Election News

Saturday 3/15/2008

Story behind the story: Obama's pastor  3/15/2008 Politico

Obama Wins More Delegates in Iowa, Calif.  3/15/2008 WaPo: "Sen. Barack Obama picked up nine more pledged delegates in Iowa, state Democratic officials said late Saturday night, as thousands took part in county conventions. All but one of the delegates had been among the 14 won Jan. 3 by former senator John Edwards, who has since dropped out of the Democratic presidential race. Election-night projections showed Obama getting 16 delegates and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 15. With the other six standing firm for Edwards at the county conventions, Obama's camp claimed 25 delegates from Iowa to 14 for Clinton. "This is a very significant improvement for us," Obama campaign manager David Plouffe told reporters of the Iowa result. "We both fought as hard as we could here.""

Zogby Poll: McCain Bests Both Obama, Clinton in 3-Way General Election Tests  3/15/2008 Zogby

Friday 3/14/2008

Florida and Michigan Delegate Battle Lacks Common Sense  3/14/2008 Alternet: "Is there an alternative to this Machiavellian madness? The answer is yes, indeed, and it has been in plain view all along. DNC Chairman Howard Dean could emerge from monklike seclusion and insist on dividing the two state's delegates 50-50 between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. That has been talked about, but it's been glossed over as Clinton's campaigners continue to believe their road to the nomination is paved with delegates from Florida and Michigan. The increasingly poisonous atmosphere surrounding the Florida proposal suggests that there is no other option that would not be seen as favoring one side or the other. Perhaps the Clinton camp's incessant protests are backfiring in this regard. But this way the party gets to seat delegates from all 50 states, Florida and Michigan are somewhat chastened for behaving badly by holding unauthorized primaries, and Democratic donors save perhaps $20 million that can otherwise be spent on defeating John McCain."

Media Hold McCain, Obama to Different Standards  3/14/2008 FAIR: "Likewise, both Obama and McCain have been endorsed by religious figures with a history of intolerant statements--Obama by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who called Judaism a "gutter religion," and McCain by John Hagee, who has called Roman Catholicism a "false cult system," an "apostate church" and a "Great Whore." Hagee has also stated (NPR Fresh Air, 9/18/06) that the Quran mandates Muslims to kill Christians and Jews, and has blamed Hurricane Katrina on a New Orleans gay pride parade. So far this year, U.S. media have found Farrakhan's Obama endorsement much more interesting than Hagee's McCain endorsement: The Nexis file had 478 stories on Obama and Farrakhan, 123 on McCain and Hagee."

Barack Obama: On My Faith and My Church  3/14/2008 Huffington Post

Obama's judgment: Wright or Wrong  3/14/2008 TPM: extensive reader commentary on Rev Wright.

Obama Repudiates Preacher’s Statements  3/14/2008 WSJ

Thursday 3/13/2008

ABC News Reports on Obama's Controversial Pastor  3/13/2008 ABC

The Media Repeats Stream of Lies About Obama  3/13/2008 Alternet: "What floods into one's inbox these days bears little or no relation to Obama's record. "Some of my earliest and most ardent supporters came from the Jewish community in Chicago," he has said. Obama ran for the Senate promising to help reconstitute the black-Jewish civil rights coalition. His first foreign policy speech of the campaign was before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), where he pledged "clear and strong commitment to the security of Israel." He has occasionally angered pro-Israel hawks by urging direct negotiations with Iran and Syria, but Obama's foreign policy record is well within the Democratic Party mainstream. He's committed to a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, supported Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 2006 and has criticized Hamas. During his campaign for the presidency, Obama has been defended by AIPAC, the neoconservative New York Sun and The New Republic's Marty Peretz, a noted Israel hawk. And yet no defense of Israel by Obama -- or of Obama by the pro-Israel establishment -- seems to be enough. "When one charge is disproved, another is leveled," says Rabbi Jack Moline, who leads a synagogue in Alexandria, Virginia."

Race emerges as issue in Democratic campaign  3/13/2008 Chicago Tribune

Wednesday 3/12/2008

Ferraro Steps Down From Clinton Campaign  3/12/2008 ABC: ""Dear Hillary, I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what's at stake in this campaign. The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won't let that happen. Thank you for everything you've done and continue to do to make this a better world for my children and grandchildren. You have my deep admiration and respect, Gerry," read the letter, first reported by CNN."

Ferraro Leaves Clinton Campaign Post  3/12/2008 AP: "David Axelrod, his campaign manager, has chose to spin this as a racist comment because every time anybody makes a comment about race who is white - he did it with Bill Clinton, he was successful; he did it with (Pennsylvania governor and Clinton supporter) Ed Rendell, he was less successful; and he is certainly not going to be successful with me," Ferraro told CBS'"The Early Show.""He should have called me up ... He knows I'm not racist."

The GOP is now gaming our primary for Clinton. It's time to end it.  3/12/2008 Daily Kos

Why Is Hillary in Bed with Blank-Rome?  3/12/2008 Huffington Post: published March 2006. Blank Rome, a lobbyist law firm heavy with Republicans, employs Geraldine Ferraro.

McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam  3/12/2008 Mother Jones

Keith Olbermann commentary on Hillary Clinton  3/12/2008 You Tube

Tuesday 3/11/2008

McCain Advisers Lobbied for Airbus  3/11/2008 AP

Clinton's foreign experience is more limited than she says  3/11/2008 McClatchy: "To bolster the claim, she's trumpeted her role as first lady in bringing peace to Northern Ireland, helping to open Macedonia's borders to Kosovo refugees and challenging China on women's rights, all as proof that she has what it takes to manage a foreign crisis. Yet while it's impossible to know how much she conferred privately about such matters with her husband, former President Bill Clinton, when he was in power, public records and interviews with former Clinton administration officials and others strongly suggest that Clinton overstates her role."

The Red Phone in Black and White  3/11/2008 NYT: by Orlando Patterson, professor of sociology at Harvard - "I have spent my life studying the pictures and symbols of racism and slavery, and when I saw the Clinton ad’s central image — innocent sleeping children and a mother in the middle of the night at risk of mortal danger — it brought to my mind scenes from the past. I couldn’t help but think of D. W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation,” the racist movie epic that helped revive the Ku Klux Klan, with its portrayal of black men lurking in the bushes around white society. The danger implicit in the phone ad — as I see it — is that the person answering the phone might be a black man, someone who could not be trusted to protect us from this threat. The ad could easily have removed its racist sub-message by including images of a black child, mother or father — or by stating that the danger was external terrorism. Instead, the child on whom the camera first focuses is blond. Two other sleeping children, presumably in another bed, are not blond, but they are dimly lighted, leaving them ambiguous. Still it is obvious that they are not black — both, in fact, seem vaguely Latino. Finally, Hillary Clinton appears, wearing a business suit at 3 a.m., answering the phone. The message: our loved ones are in grave danger and only Mrs. Clinton can save them. An Obama presidency would be dangerous — and not just because of his lack of experience. In my reading, the ad, in the insidious language of symbolism, says that Mr. Obama is himself the danger, the outsider within."

Monday 3/10/2008

Letter from Reverend Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr. to the New York Times  3/10/2008 Black Voter Net: "I told you how important it would be to have a man who not only knew the difference between Shiites and Sunnis prior to 9/11/01 in the Oval Office, but also how important it would be to have a man who knew what Sufism was; a man who understood that there were different branches of Judaism; a man who knew the difference between Hasidic Jews, Orthodox Jews, Conservative Jews and Reformed Jews; and a man who was a devout Christian, but who did not prejudge others because they believed something other than what he believed."

Clinton Link in Brazil Ethanol Probe  3/10/2008 Huffington Post: "A team from Brazil's Labor Ministry found "degrading" living conditions for 133 sugarcane workers employed by an ethanol company whose investors include former President Clinton and other high-profile financial players. At five sites inspected, workers "complained they were suffering from hunger and cold, and all of the locations were overcrowded and with terrible sanitary conditions," according to a statement issued Friday by Jaqueline Carrijo, who led the inspections last month."

Bill Clinton Went On Rush Limbaugh’s Show Day Of Texas Primary  3/10/2008 Moderate Voice

Crossing The Threshold II  3/10/2008 Obsidian Wings: Extensive discussion of Hillary's foreign policy "experience."

FLASHBACK: McCain Called Chalabi ‘A Patriot’ With Iraq’s ‘Best Interests At Heart’  3/10/2008 Think Progress

Sunday 3/9/2008

Alcohol industry ties may test McCain 3/9/2008 Boston Globe: "The alcohol lobby is one of the most influential in Washington. Although McCain has recused himself on alcohol issues, he has not refused the industry's money. Out of all candidates for all federal offices in 2008 - the White House, Senate, and House - McCain has received more alcohol industry money than all but two. The top recipient was Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, with $210,750, followed by former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani with $186,725 and McCain with $152,725, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. In addition, the analysis showed that McCain was the top recipient among federal candidates of money from Anheuser-Busch, the company that supplies beer to his wife's firm, providing $15,200."

Saturday 3/8/2008

Guess What? Obama Is Winning Texas  3/8/2008 Consortium News: by Pisa Pease - "Tuesday night, Obama’s campaign attorney Bob Bauer jumped in on a conference call between the Clinton campaign and reporters to note that the Clinton campaign had a pattern of challenging caucuses. Bauer noted that a lawsuit had been threatened in advance of the Nevada caucuses (although the lawsuit never materialized). Clinton has made several comments denigrating caucuses in general, noting that people who work during the caucus time can’t participate. Different states have different procedures, however, that try to make participation easy. In Texas, for example, once voters signed in and noted the candidate they were supporting, they were not required to stay for the entire caucus to have their votes counted. This also isn’t the first time the press has denied Obama a delegate victory. In Nevada, the press crowned Clinton the winner, despite the fact that Obama won the delegate count. In New Hampshire, Obama was handed a loss, even though the delegates were equally split between Obama and Clinton."

Lest We Forget - President Clinton's Remarks on Naming William M. Daley as NAFTA Task Force Chairman and an Exchange With Reporters  3/8/2008 Counterpunch

You Can't Lick the Boot that Kicks You - The Only Way to Fight the Clintons  3/8/2008 Counterpunch: "...it would make for a more interesting campaign going forward if he would challenge that First Lady experience by implicitly challenging the myths on which it stands, projecting an idea of the future unmoored from the Reagan-Clinton continuum, something Hillary is locked into. What drew so many people originally to Obama's campaign was its call to "turn the page" on past Republican and Democratic politics alike, and its recognition that people are just fed up. But that call could never sustain itself purely on some attacks on lobbyists and the usual timid party nods toward health care, education and the environment. It was always going to need more meat on its bones."

Another Lie Debunked - Obama actually outperforms Clinton in the Big States  3/8/2008 Democratic Underground: "In the top Nine contested primaries to date Sen.Obama has outperformed Sen Clinton by 156,000 votes."

Nobel winner: Hillary Clinton's 'silly' Irish peace claims  3/8/2008 Telegraph, UK: "Hillary Clinton had no direct role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and is a "wee bit silly" for exaggerating the part she played, according to Lord Trimble of Lisnagarvey, the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former First Minister of the province."

Friday 3/7/2008

Clinton Denies NAFTA Comment  3/7/2008 AP: "The Canadian prime minister's chief of staff says someone in Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign told him to take the presidential candidate's tough-on-NAFTA talk with "a grain of salt." That's according to a report by the Canadian Press. A Clinton spokesman says the campaign "flatly denied" the suggestion. A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper e-mailed The Associated Press saying that chief of staff "Ian Brodie is alleged to have made an offhand comment about a rumor to a reporter." She writes that, "He does not recall saying it.""

WHY THE CLINTONS WON'T RELEASE THEIR 2000-2006 TAX RETURNS!  3/7/2008 Democratic Underground: "According to the Washington Post, a Saudi Arabian investment company with ties to the Saudi government and Royal Family has paid Bill Clinton at least $600,000 in lecturing fees. A quick search on Bill’s travel itinerary reveals that Bill Clinton met with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh in June of 2003. Two years later, Clinton met with the Crown Prince again, this time in the United States. One wonders what Bill promised in exchange for the $600,000 check. Other foreign interests who have paid Clinton include: $650,000 from a pro-NAFTA Canadian investment firm and $200,000 from a real estate firm which is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. This is all money which can be turned around by the Clintons to support their political interests. By law, Hillary Clinton is entitled to use half of her spouse’s wealth to back her presidential campaign. In this campaign, she has already done this by donating $5 million to her campaign. Let’s think about the net effect of this; this allows Bill’s income to be used for political purposes. In effect the Saudis have given a $300,000 donation to her campaign, the Canadians have donated $325,000, and the Chinese Communist Party has donated $100,000."

McCain Loses Cool With NYT Reporter  3/7/2008 Huffington Post: Senator Hothead at work - "Republican Sen. John McCain, showing a flash of the temper he is known for, repeatedly cut off a reporter Friday when asked whether he had spoken to Democratic Sen. John Kerry about being his vice president in 2004. "Everybody knows that I had a private conversation. Everybody knows that, that I had a conversation," McCain told the reporter. "And you know it, too. No. You know it, too. No. You do know. You do know.""

A New Hope  3/7/2008 Rolling Stone: Rolling Stone endorses Obama

Inside US poll battle as fight turns dirty for Democrats  3/7/2008 Scotsman: "She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything," Ms Power said, hastily trying to withdraw her remark. "Interestingly, the people in her innermost circle seem to not mind her; I think they really love her." But she added: "There is this middle circle – they are really on the warpath. But the truth is she has proved herself really willing to stoop." In recent TV appearances Mrs Clinton had looked desperate and on the back foot. Ms Power agreed, and said: "Here, it looks like desperation. I hope it looks like desperation there too."

Clinton Woos Voters in Obama Territory  3/7/2008 WaPo: "Clinton was the special guest at the state's annual Jefferson-Jackson-Hamer Dinner, but Obama's presence was felt around the cavernous, half-empty room. His face was plastered on the program with hers, his supporters taped Obama signs on railings throughout the facility. Clinton warmed the crowd of a few hundred Mississippi Democrats by pulling on her Arkansas roots, telling them that she won the neighboring state with 70 percent of the vote, "including all three counties in the Delta." Polls show Obama leads her here by a wide margin, but Clinton said she intended to compete in Tuesday's primary anyway."

Bill Clinton profits from company tied to felon, China  3/7/2008 Washington Times: "The spring before his wife began her White House campaign, former President Bill Clinton earned $700,000 for his foundation by selling stock that he had been given from an Internet search company that was co-founded by a convicted felon and backed by the Chinese government, public records show. Mr. Clinton had gotten the nonpublicly traded stock from Accoona Corp. back in 2004 as a gift for giving a speech at a company event. He landed the windfall by selling the 200,000 shares to an undisclosed buyer in May 2006, commanding $3.50 a share at a time when the company was reporting millions of dollars of losses, according to interviews."

Thursday 3/6/2008

All Victories Are Equal, But Some Are More Equal Than Others  3/6/2008 Cogitamus: [Map with state by state projections of Obama or Clinton vs McCain] - "At the moment, Barack Obama is the better general election nominee. Period. Full stop. He will have to spend less time defending blue states. He's competitive in a larger number of red states. And he's more competitive in states that have Senate elections. Barack Obama: because this is the year to bust the map wide open."

Hillary Plays the 'Gender Card,' Again  3/6/2008 Consortium News: "The campaign press corps missed what may have been the most important comment in the Feb. 26 debate – when Hillary Clinton reminded women that their chance of electing the first female president was slipping away."

Clintons got money from Rezko co-defendants  3/6/2008 Daily Kos: "Since the name of Chicago defendant Antoin ‘Tony’ Rezko has come up in national debate, it seems fair to look at donations from other defendants in Chicago’s "Operation Board Games." Of the other five defendants, three have donated to the Clintons or to Clinton supporters, three have donated mostly to Republicans, and at least two have donated to Obama’s political opponents. None have donated to Obama."

Bradley: Bill Clinton's Financial Backers Could Pose Big Problem  3/6/2008 Huffington Post: "I think Barack Obama has a much stronger chance of beating John McCain in the general election. I think Hillary is flawed in many ways, and particularly if you look at her husband's unwillingness to release the names of the people who contributed to his presidential library. And the reason that is important -- you know, are there favors attached to $500,000 or $1 million contributions? And what do I mean by favors? I mean, pardons that are granted; investigations that are squelched; contracts that are awarded; regulations that are delayed."

Rezkorama - The Coming Swift Boating Of Obama (Updated)  3/6/2008 Newshoggers: "It's almost impossible now to find an article or news account about Obama that doesn't include some dark reference to the "Rezko" affair, always with the suggestion or even overt claim that it's reflective of some serious vulnerability, some suggestion of wrongdoing and corruption. But what is it? The reporters throwing the word around quite plainly have no idea. Having paid only casual attention to it in the past, I spent several hours yesterday morning reading every "Rezko" article I could find in an attempt to understand as much as possible about the allegations. The point isn't that there is no credible evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Obama, although that's unquestionably true. It's far beyond that. There aren't even any theoretical allegations or suggestions as to what he might have done wrong at all. The person who is accused of wrongdoing is Tony Rezko, in matters unarguably having nothing to do with Obama. Nobody claims otherwise (although many try to imply otherwise). "

Hillary: McCain Has Crossed "Commander In Chief Threshold"  3/6/2008 TPM: “I think that since we now know Sen. McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington. “I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy,” she said."

Obama Advisers Ratchet Up Criticism Of Hillary's Claim To Foreign Policy Experience  3/6/2008 TPM: "His aides repeatedly argued that Hillary's criticism of Obama is virtually identical to McCain's arguments, and Obama foreign policy adviser Susan Rice made what sounded to our ears like the most elaborate case against her claim to experience yet. As first lady, Rice argued, "you are not the person asked by the U.S. government to deliver tough messages or apply pressure. You're not the person who's responsible for the loss of life. You're not the person who has to make the sometimes recalcitrant bureaucracy deliver in the national interest.""

Wednesday 3/5/2008

Clinton strong with white women, older voters, exit poll shows  3/5/2008 AP

Analysis: Why Hillary Won  3/5/2008 CBS: "In contrast, Clinton's successful promotion of herself as having a clear and detailed plan to solve the country's problems did translate into an electoral advantage. In Ohio, 28 percent said that Clinton was the only one of the two candidates offering such a plan, while 15 percent said Obama was the only one, and another 40 percent said both had offered clear problem-solving plans. Overall in Ohio, 68 percent felt Clinton had offered clear plans and 55 percent felt Obama had. Similarly, in Texas 66 percent said Clinton offered a clear plan and 53 percent said Obama had. In both states, each candidate won roughly two-thirds of those rating them as having problem-solving plans, providing Clinton a mathematical edge overall."

Obama Glosses Over Colombian Attack in Ecuador; Clinton Calls for Escalation Against Venezuela  3/5/2008 Common Dreams

Pyrrhus' Playbook - A Great Day for John McCain (and Maybe Nader)  3/5/2008 Counterpunch: "The press is blaring tidings of a great Clinton comeback in Ohio and Texas last night, both states in which she had twenty point leads in late February. But in terms of delegates Obama is ahead by what appears to be an insurmountable margin. The only way Hillary Clinton can win the nomination is to savage Obama with calumnies, bloodying him to a point where the Clintons can turn make the case to the super delegates in the convention that in a race against McCain Obama has already been fatally wounded. It's a course to which the Clinton campaign is now totally committed, exactly along the lines advocated by Mark Penn, Hillary's pollster and chief strategist. Penn's policy has been the antithesis of any grand coalition of the kind put together by Roosevelt in the 1930s. Already in south Carolina the Clinton campaign was willing to throw the black vote overboard. In Texas Clinton deliberately exploited Hispanic-black animosities."

Obama's Grandmother Decries Tricks  3/5/2008 Fox, Houston: "A frown replaces the dimpled beam of Sarah Hussein Obama, grandmother of Barack Obama, when asked on Wednesday about recent attacks on her grandson that include the spreading of rumors that he is secretly a Muslim and the repeated use of his middle name -- Hussein -- by a radio host at a rally for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. "Untruths are told that don't have anything to do with what Barack is about," she said in the local Luo language, her gray hair smoothed neatly under a headwrap. "I am very against it.""

'NAFTAgate' began with remark from Harper's chief of staff  3/5/2008 Globe and Mail, Toronto: "Quite a few people heard it," said one source in the room. "He said someone from (Hillary) Clinton's campaign is telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt. . . That someone called us and told us not to worry." Government officials did not deny the conversation took place. They said that Mr. Brodie sought to allay concerns about the impact of Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton's assertion that they would re-negotiate NAFTA if elected. But they did say that Mr. Brodie had no recollection of discussing any specific candidate — either Ms. Clinton or Mr. Obama."

The "Rezko" game  3/5/2008 Greenwald: "But Obama isn't even accused of -- let alone proven to have engaged in -- any wrongdoing at all. I spent many years litigating all sorts of civil cases involving financial transactions like these. Few things are easier than concocting some nefarious angle to innocuous real estate transactions, yet they can't even do that here. Despite that, the "Rezko" innuendo lurks and grows and clearly isn't going anywhere."

Huma Abedin  3/5/2008 Mahalo: It has been rumored since at least fall of 07 that Huma and Hillary are an item.

Exit polls: Why Clinton won Ohio  3/5/2008 MSNBC: "Hillary Clinton's win in Ohio was shouldered on the strength of her core constituencies: women, whites, labor, seniors, and she narrowed the gap in groups that had been strong for Barack Obama. Let's take a closer look at the white vote. Overall, she won a solid victory among whites. Clinton took 65% of the vote to Obama's 33%. As in other contests Obama won the black vote by a wide margin (86%-14%). But remember, blacks make up only 19% of the Democratic electorate, so the white vote was key for Clinton. The generation gap among whites starts at a younger point than we've seen elsewhere. Only the under-30 groups broke for Obama (49%-46%). And as you can see, it was a far narrower gap than we have seen in other contests. All of the other age groups among whites went for Clinton (ages 30-44, 62%-38%; ages 45-64, 68%-29%; ages 65+, 74%-23%)."

Advisers for Clinton Plan the Endgame  3/5/2008 NYT: "Advisers to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton today began plotting a ground game, advertising budgets and a confidence-brimming outreach strategy in hopes of both scoring a big victory in April’s Pennsylvania primary and accumulating enough superdelegates over time to even the nomination fight against Senator Barack Obama."

Obama Moves to Sharpen His Critique of Clinton  3/5/2008 NYT

How Clinton Won TX and OH  3/5/2008 Real Clear Politics

Tuesday 3/4/2008

Why is Obama's skin blacker than normal in Hillary's new attack ad?  3/4/2008 America Blog: "I went and got the original footage from the Clinton ad, and then compared it to 3 different video clips of the same debate from 3 different sources. I did this so as to take into account any editing, or quality issues, that might have accounted for Obama having darker skin in any particular video. None of the 3 video sources I found showed Obama nearly as black as the Hillary ad does. Click the image above to see a larger version. Look at his lips. Look at his eyebrows. Look at how the red MSNBC background has turned more purple. Clearly the image was darkened. The question is "why.""

The Missing Apology - Hillary in Waco  3/4/2008 Counterpunch: "While making a campaign stop in Waco, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton praised the U.S. military for "defending and protecting our country." I couldn't help but wonder whether she was talking about the military's role in Iraq or Waco."

Republicans Divided over How to Run against Obama  3/4/2008 Der Spiegel

Hillary’s Math Problem - Forget tonight. She could win 16 straight and still lose  3/4/2008 Newsweek

Five reasons Clinton could come back  3/4/2008 Politico

Monday 3/3/2008

Is the Clinton Campaign Now Engaged in Intentional Race-Baiting?  3/3/2008 Daily Kos

Hannity’s White Supremacist Pal Threatens Obama  3/3/2008 News Hound: "Sean Hannity was in a self-righteous lather last week about Barack Obama’s indirect and unsubstantial associations with Louis Farrakhan and a former 60’s radical, William Ayers. But a white supremacist named Hal Turner, with whom Hannity bonded during the 90’s, has contemplated the “necessity” of murdering Obama and suggested that ricin be used to “clean out” all the “trash candidates.” (Hat tip to our reader, GrannyStandingforTruth). Will Hannity renounce Turner in the same vein with which he has demanded Obama renounce Farrakhan and Ayers?"

Good for the Jews? Hillary Clinton's surrogates are questioning Obama's commitment to U.S.-Israel relations.  3/3/2008 Newsweek: ""When Brzezinski's name appears on an advisory list, that's a red flag right away," says an influential American Jewish leader who did not want to sour relations with the Obama campaign. Many American Jews mistrust Brzezinski because he endorsed a 2006 article, later a book, called "The Israel Lobby," which blames many U.S. foreign-policy problems on Washington's ties to Israel. Lewis's aside is not an isolated incident. (She did not respond to a request for comment.) As the race between Clinton and Obama has sharpened in recent months, other Clinton campaign operatives have sent around negative material about Obama's relations with Israel, according to e-mails obtained by NEWSWEEK. In addition to Brzezinski, the e-mails attack Obama advisers such as Rob Malley, a former Clinton negotiator at the 2000 Camp David talks who has since written articles sympathetic to the Palestinian point of view, and they raise questions about Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor at Obama's Trinity Church in Chicago. Wright has criticized Israel, and Trumpet, a publication run by his daughter, gave an award for "greatness" to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who once called Judaism a "bloodsucking religion." (Obama disagreed with bestowing the award.)"

Canada pulled into U.S. vote  3/3/2008 Toronto Star: "In Ottawa, Opposition parties have accused the Conservative government of leaking word of the meeting last week to CTV News in order to hurt Democrats and help Republican John McCain in the U.S. presidential election this fall. Bob Shrum, a top Democratic strategist, also accused Canada's Conservatives of "actively interfering" in the U.S. election campaign."

Inside Obama's Surging Net-Roots Campaign  3/3/2008 Wired

Sunday 3/2/2008

Crist Says He'd Support a Repeat of Florida Democratic Primary  3/2/2008 Bloomberg

Pressure raised on Clinton to bow out  3/2/2008 IHT: "Top supporters of Senator Barack Obama, joined by at least one prominent but uncommitted Democrat, raised the pressure Sunday on Senator Hillary Clinton to bow out of the presidential nominating race if she fails to score clear victories in two big-state primary contests Tuesday. "I just think that D-Day is Tuesday," said Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico, a former Democratic presidential hopeful who has yet to throw his weight behind either leading candidate. He said the increasingly negative campaign advertisements aired by both Democrats made it more urgent that the party unite quickly behind a nominee."

Barnstorming Obama plans to pick Republicans for cabinet  3/2/2008 London Times

Saturday 3/1/2008

McCain seeks distance from pastor  3/1/2008 AP: "The Catholic League and Catholics United called on McCain to reject the endorsement. "By publicly addressing this issue, you will reaffirm to the American public and to Catholics that intolerance and bigotry have no place in American presidential campaigns," Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United, wrote McCain in a letter sent Thursday. McCain's response to the two days of criticism stood in contrast to his rapid denunciation of a radio talk show host who denigrated Barack Obama, repeatedly using Obama's middle name, Hussein, and calling him a "hack, Chicago-style" politician."

Clinton Says She and McCain Offer Experience, Obama Offers Speeches  3/1/2008 CBS: "Criticism has been leveled towards Clinton as well, though, especially her claim that she is ready to be the commander-in-chief on "day one." When asked at the press conference if she could name a particular instance in her past that equips her to deal with a national security crisis, Clinton balked, saying, “Well, I was involved in a lot of the decisions that were made. Again, you are looking at it from the wrong perspective,” Clinton said."

Texas caucus hardball  3/1/2008 Politico: "The materials say in part, "DO NOT allow the supporter of another candidate to serve in leadership roles." It goes on to say, "If our supporters are outnumbered, ask the Temporary Chair if one of our supporters can serve as the Secretary, in the interest of fairness. "The control of the sign-in sheets and the announcement of the delegates allotted to each candidate are the critical functions of the Chair and Secretary. This is why it is so important that Hillary supporters hold these positions.""

Fired Up, Ready to Go  3/1/2008 YouTube: Obama song.

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Election News Archive: 3/1/08-3/15/08

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Archive: 3/1/08-3/15/08