Tag: 2008 (page 28)

The AP and New York Times report Hillary Clinton is fighting back today.

“Shame on you, Barack Obama,” Mrs. Clinton said at a news conference after a morning rally, holding the flyers and shaking them in the air as she spoke. “It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public. That’s what I expect from you. Meet me in Ohio. Let’s have a debate about your tactics and your behavior in this campaign.”

....“Time and time again, you hear one thing in speeches and then you see a campaign that has the worst kind of tactics, reminiscent of the same sort of Republican attacks on Democrats,” Mrs. Clinton said.

The backstory, about the Obama campaign wrongly claiming Hillary said NAFTA was a "boon" is below:

The Washington Post reports Obama Fever may be breaking. A rash of new Internet sites have cropped up which the Post says, show "Obamamania may be hitting a wall."

It's the nature of the Web -- and, really, of life. What goes up must come down. What's popular becomes too popular. What's seen as hip and hot and cool eventually gets mocked. Even, yes, Barack Obama.

Two of the sites named by the Post:

• Is Barack Obama the Messiah
• Obama is Your New Bicyle

Some of the sites, like the Bicycle site, are by Obama supporters.

More...

The AP has the latest news on the superdelegate front. Ignore the misleading title,"AP survey: Superdelegates jump to Obama" (which implies scores of delegates are jumping ship or changing from Hillary to Obama)and read the text of the article:

Clinton still leads among superdelegates — 241 to 181, according to the AP survey. But her total is down two in the past two weeks, while his is up 25. Since the primaries started, at least three Clinton superdelegates have switched to Obama, including Rep. David Scott of Georgia, who changed his endorsement after Obama won 80 percent of the primary vote in Scott's district. At least two other Clinton backers have switched to undecided. None of Obama's have publicly strayed, according to the AP tally.

The reality, from their numbers: Hillary still leads in total superdelegates and despite his ten or eleven recent wins, only 3 out of 246 have left her for Obama while two have changed to undecided.

Reality #2: The superdelegates can change their mind up to the time they vote at the convention. If Hillary takes Texas and Ohio and stays in the race, she could gain more or take some from Obama.

Right now, the superdelegates are not the issue. Texas and Ohio voters are.

Austin, TX is considered one of the most liberal cities in Texas. It is also home to the University of Texas. I always thought it was purely Obama country.

Today, The Daily Texan, the university's newspaper, made it clear that it is endorsing Hillary Clinton for President.

George W. Bush has made a mess of America, and we believe Hillary Clinton is the best person to clean it up. She is prepared and willing to be a leader who is "a lot less hat and a lot more cattle," as she stated during Thursday night's debate.

Clinton is a seasoned politician, and some argue that works against her. But Bush has been wildly successful in destroying every positive function of the machine that is Washington, D.C., and Clinton has the political tools and knowledge to fix it.

More...

Move-On just sent its Denver members an e-mail asking them to host an Obama party on Sunday where everyone brings a cell phone:

On Sunday, March 2, we're holding the biggest phone bank in presidential primary history. Folks everywhere will come to parties armed with cell phones—ready to call thousands of Texas MoveOn members whose votes could put Obama over the top on March 4.

...."we'll make sure folks know about the unusual primary-plus-caucus system in Texas, which allows voters to double their impact. If we can get our 125,000 MoveOn members in Texas to flood primary and caucus locations, Obama will win.

And the disclaimer: "PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee."

900 people have already signed up to host parties across the country. Their goal is 1,000 parties. And Obama complains about a 527 PAC for Hillary in Ohio?

Buyer's Remorse is setting in for Boston Herald columnist Margery Eagan, who has often criticized Hillary and says she supports Obama. Read the whole thing, but here are some snippets:

I’m nervous because too many Obama-philes sound like Moonies, or Hare Krishnas...These true believers “Obama-ize” everything. They speak Obama-ese. Knit for Obama. Run for Obama. Gamble - Hold ’Em Barack! - for Obama. They make Obama cakes, underwear, jewelry. They send Valentine cards reading, “I want to Barack your world!”

Even better:

Oh - I’m nervous because it’s all gone to his head and he hasn’t even won yet. I’m nervous because it’s gone to a lot of other people’s heads as well.....“He walks into a room and you want to follow him somewhere, anywhere,” says George Clooney. “I’ll do whatever he says to do,” says actress Halle Berry. “I’ll collect paper cups off the ground to make his pathway clear.”

I’m nervous because nobody’s quite sure what Obama stands for, even his supporters. (“I can’t wait to see,” said actress/activist Susan Sarandon, declaring full support nonetheless).

She even has remorse about Michelle Obama, about whom she recently wrote "a puff-piece." She ends with:

I’m nervous because John McCain says Obama’s is “an eloquent but empty call for change” and in the wee, wee hours, a nagging voice whispers, suppose McCain’s right, too? Then what?

Is she serious? Who knows, but I suspect we'll be hearing it from others over the next two weeks.

Barack Obama is seeking to portray himself as the better candidate on issues pertaining to NAFTA, jobs, unions and labor.

For voters in Texas, Ohio and PA (it's too late for Wisconsin), I suggest you examine their voting records in the Senate on these issues. It's a far better yardstick than speeches. A good starting place: Progressive Punch.

Hillary Clinton's voting record during her seven years as U.S. Senator is 100% progressive on "Aid to Workers Negatively Impacted Upon by International Trade Agreements", on General Union Rights and on Outsourcing of American Jobs Overseas.

Here is Hillary's record on Preventing Workers' Rights From Being Eroded by International Trade Agreements. It is solidly progressive with the exception of two votes on one bill in 2002. [More...]

Conservatives attacking Barack Obama and his supporters wanting change believe Obama is a more progressive candidate than Hillary Clinton. Let's take a look at that, because their voting records in the Senate suggest otherwise.

Progressive Punch is a site that rates the legislative records of all Senators on progressive issues. For 2007-2008, Barack Obama is the 43rd most progressive out of 100 Senators. # 44 is Joe Lieberman. After #50, they are all Republicans, except for Tim Johnson. (Overall, his ranking is 88% or 24 out of 99, possibly suggesting he has become less progressive over time in the Senate.)

Hillary Clinton is rated far more progressive for 2007-2008, at #29. Her score is 90% to Obama's 81%. Overall, she ranks 17 out of 99, with a 91% progressive voting record, to his 24 out of 99 and an 88% progressive voting record.).

Obama's weakest score: On human rights and civil liberties he's at 75%, and #42 out of 99. One reason: in 2005, he voted "no" on a bill to cut funding for a new $36 million maximum security prison at Guantanamo.

Later today.

Teamster President James P. Hoffa plans to meet with Obama in Austin, Texas, before an announcement is made. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the planned public announcement.

The Teamsters has 1.4 million members. More importantly for Obama,

They also are a potent source of campaign cash and get-out-the-vote workers for Democrats.

Since the networks cut it off, here's the text of Hillary's new speech delivered in Youngstown, Ohio last night.

It seems to me the most prominent issue in the campaigns is now NAFTA and that it will be as important in Ohio as it was in Wisconsin.

Admittedly, it's an issue I know nothing about. But the sense I get from the media is that Obama has gained an edge on the issue by bashing Hillary because Bill Clinton pushed for NAFTA.

Last night, Hillary released a four point specific plan to fix the problems of NAFTA. It's in her speech and reprinted below and my questions are, what is Obama's specific plan, how does it differ from Hillary's and do they really differ on the issue? [More...]

Lots of folks in the comments last night criticized Hillary Clinton because she didn't congratulate Barack Obama on his win in Wisconsin in her speech. Huffington Post reports she called him after the speech to congratulate him. His press secretary confirms this.

And, while her speech contained some criticism Obama, it was nothing compared to that of her introductory speaker, Machinists Union President Tom Buffenbarger. Via Ken Vogel at Politico:

He also compared Obama with "Janus, the two-faced god" of Roman mythology. He called him "silver tongued" and a "thespian" and "the man in love with the microphone."

"He’s not just a trained thespian, he’s a terrific shadow boxer. You know the type. Outside the ring, he pretends he can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," he said. "But Barack Obama is no Muhammad Ali. He took a walk every time there was a tough vote in the Illinois state Senate. He took a walk more than 130 times. That’s what a shadow boxer does. All the right moves, all the right combinations, all the right footwork, but he never steps into the ring. He walks away from the fight.”

Vogel reports the union crowd loved it.

For what it's worth, via My DD: The Gallup Daily Tracking poll has a Hillary rebound. It's now Hillary 45%, Obama 46% with Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters.

Clinton was seven percentage points behind Obama in the Feb. 15-17 average. In Monday night's interviewing, Clinton's percentage of the vote of national voters was higher than Obama's, but there has been fluidity in the nightly tracking numbers over the past several days as Democrats nationally process the intense, often heated, nature of the campaign. Monday's news coverage of the Democratic campaign was replete with a focus on the Clinton campaign's charges that Obama had plagiarized material from Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and other negative attacks on Obama by the Clinton campaign. It is unclear which, if any, of these factors could be responsible for changes in the candidates' standing.