By DANIEL LATHROP
P-I REPORTER
Washington might be a blue state, but it was one of the reddest candidates who led the pack in fundraising here during the first three months of the year.
Republican Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, raised more than $273,000 in Washington, according to campaign finance reports turned in Sunday.
"Voters in Washington agree we need to bring real change to our nation's capital. ... These supporters will be vital to our success on the way to winning the nomination, " said Romney spokeswoman Sarah Pompei.
Romney had a liberal to moderate image and record in Massachusetts but is trying to repackage himself as a Christian conservative in his bid for the presidency.
Close behind Romney in the state are two Democrats: former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina with $250,175 and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois with $223,544, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Nationwide, Romney was the top Republican fundraiser, with $20.7 million so far. The top Democrat is Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, with $26 million raised and $10 million more transferred from her successful re-election campaign. Obama raised close to $26 million nationally. Edwards raised almost $15 million, an amount that would have made him the top Democratic fundraiser at this point in most past elections.
Despite a wealth of fundraising unprecedented this early in an election campaign, Washington's donors, who have been generous in the past, have not yet shown their colors.
People here have given only about three-quarters of 1 percent of the national total, according to public filings detailing donors of more than $200.
Wealthy donors are the key constituency in the "money primary"-- the fundraising race that shapes the outcome of presidential nominations before a single caucus is held or a single vote is cast.
While a Republican was the top recipient, the state's Democrats outdid the GOP, accounting for about $600,000 of the $1 million raised here.
Big money came from the technology companies -- at least $65,000 -- and area law firms -- about $135,000.
Trial lawyers, some of the Democrats' richest partisans, strongly backed Edwards in 2004 but are more divided this time around. Even so, in Washington Edwards raised at least $75,000 from law firms.
Obama, meanwhile, drew half the contributions made by tech workers, including donations from RealNetworks Inc. CEO Rob Glaser and Zillow.com President Lloyd Frink.
While many in the Republican establishment -- led by former Sen. Slade Gorton -- are backing Arizona Sen. John McCain, his total fundraising was about $72,000. Those supporters include some heavyweights, such as Gorton and former U.S. Attorney Mike McKay.
Still, many of the area's most prominent political names are missing.
Some, such as Democratic megadonor and environmental leader Maryanne Tagney-Jones, have made up their minds but are waiting for a strategic moment to write that big $2,000 or $4,000 check.
Tagney-Jones is involved in planning for a major fundraising event to benefit Clinton, who has so far collected less than $100,000 in the state. In the past, Clinton has been a tireless fundraiser in Washington, so many of her supporters could be biding their time.
"I was waiting to (donate) when we did this fundraiser," said Tagney-Jones, whose husband, Bruce Jones, is a major donor to Democrats. "We will obviously be maxing out to the campaign."
One of those who did give to Clinton was Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who contributed $4,600, the legal maximum for the 2008 elections.
Ken Alhadeff, real estate mogul and major donor to Democrats, says he hasn't made up his mind whom he will support but is optimistic about all the candidates. "I think what the last couple years have shown us is that given the right circumstances, anyone can win."
Patricia Herbold, U.S. ambassador to Singapore and the former chairwoman of the King County Republican Party, hasn't yet contributed. Neither has her husband, Bob Herbold, Microsoft Corp.'s former chief operating officer.
Each person can give up to $2,300 to a candidate's bid for the nomination and another $2,300 that could be used if the candidate wins the nomination.
The leading candidates from both parties have announced that they will not be seeking federal matching funds during the primary and have begun raising money to replace public financing for the general election.
That allows the candidates to raise and spend much more and ignore other constraints that come with participating in the public financing system, a cornerstone of post-Watergate reforms to the nation's campaign finance laws.
HOW THEY RANK
Presidential candidates raising $10,000 or more in the state January-March 2007. The total includes money that can be spent for the primaries and the general election.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass.: $273,300 of $20.7 million total
Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.: $250,175 of $14 million total
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.: $223,544 of $25.7 million total
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.: $91,255 of $26 million total
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.: $72,266 of $13 million total
Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M.: $37,710 of $6.2 million total
Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn.: $34,900 of $4 million total
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, R-N.Y.: $30,000 of $14.7 million total
Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del.: $11,500 of $2.1 million total
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
Opinion: Mr. Giuliani Goes South
Americans are weary enough of presidential candidates who blurt out one of those intellectually dishonest sound bites known as “the pander” when they are caught in the last moments of a do-or-die race. But what are they to make of a candidate who goes straight to the pandering, with comments that are offensive to millions of people?
That’s what we found ourselves asking when Rudolph Giuliani told reporters in Alabama that it should be up to the state to decide whether to fly the Confederate battle flag over its Capitol. Never mind that the flag has not flown there for nearly 15 years. Never mind that nobody is pushing to return it. Never mind that lawsuits have been decided on this issue and that millions of Americans find the standard to be a symbol of slavery and repression.
Explaining his let-them-fly-flags philosophy, he declaimed that one of the “great beauties” of American government is that “we can make different decisions in different parts of the country.”
He added: “We have different sensitivities.”
Mr. Giuliani cannot truly believe the issues surrounding the Confederate flag are just a matter of local taste. The Civil War, the civil rights movement and the Supreme Court answered that question. Even the Southern states have largely moved on.
If he missed all of that, surely he noticed how Senator John McCain humiliated himself in 2000 over the flag in a vain attempt to win the primary in South Carolina. There is no excusing that pandering, but at least the flag was an issue that year in that state. In 2007, Mr. Giuliani simply looks as if he wants to convince voters that no matter what his beliefs are, they should vote for him anyway because he’s prepared to put them aside.
He said he believes in the right to own guns, but he would let the states decide how to regulate them. The other day he said he was for abortion rights and preened about his political courage. Then he refused to say whether states should spend public money on abortions or require a woman to view an ultrasound picture of her fetus before an abortion.
Mr. Giuliani ought to stop waving in the wind, because that would be the right thing to do. It is also not working. Southern political strategists said he’s too moderate on abortion and pronounced him dead in their states. In Alabama, the local press mocked him for failing to recognize an actual Confederate battle flag on a flagpole. Americans know a pander when they see one.
That’s what we found ourselves asking when Rudolph Giuliani told reporters in Alabama that it should be up to the state to decide whether to fly the Confederate battle flag over its Capitol. Never mind that the flag has not flown there for nearly 15 years. Never mind that nobody is pushing to return it. Never mind that lawsuits have been decided on this issue and that millions of Americans find the standard to be a symbol of slavery and repression.
Explaining his let-them-fly-flags philosophy, he declaimed that one of the “great beauties” of American government is that “we can make different decisions in different parts of the country.”
He added: “We have different sensitivities.”
Mr. Giuliani cannot truly believe the issues surrounding the Confederate flag are just a matter of local taste. The Civil War, the civil rights movement and the Supreme Court answered that question. Even the Southern states have largely moved on.
If he missed all of that, surely he noticed how Senator John McCain humiliated himself in 2000 over the flag in a vain attempt to win the primary in South Carolina. There is no excusing that pandering, but at least the flag was an issue that year in that state. In 2007, Mr. Giuliani simply looks as if he wants to convince voters that no matter what his beliefs are, they should vote for him anyway because he’s prepared to put them aside.
He said he believes in the right to own guns, but he would let the states decide how to regulate them. The other day he said he was for abortion rights and preened about his political courage. Then he refused to say whether states should spend public money on abortions or require a woman to view an ultrasound picture of her fetus before an abortion.
Mr. Giuliani ought to stop waving in the wind, because that would be the right thing to do. It is also not working. Southern political strategists said he’s too moderate on abortion and pronounced him dead in their states. In Alabama, the local press mocked him for failing to recognize an actual Confederate battle flag on a flagpole. Americans know a pander when they see one.
John McCain in His Own Words
“ I just returned from my fifth visit to Iraq. Unlike the veterans here today, I risked nothing more threatening than a hostile press corps. And my only mission was to inform my opinions with facts.
We still face many difficult challenges in Iraq. That is undeniable. But we have also made, in recent weeks, measurable progress in establishing security in Baghdad and fighting Al Qaeda in Anbar province.
To deny the difficulties and uncertainties ahead is an egregious disservice to the public. But as General Petraeus implements his plan to correct the flawed strategy we followed in the past and attempts to spare the United States and the world the catastrophe of an American defeat, it is an equal disservice to dismiss early signs of progress.
And now we confront a choice as historically important as any we have faced in a long while.
Will this nation’s elected leaders make the politically hard but strategically vital decision to give General Petraeus our full support and do what is necessary to succeed in Iraq? Or will we decide to take advantage of the public’s frustration, accept defeat and hope that whatever the cost to our security, the politics of defeat will work out better for us than our opponents?
For my part, I would rather lose a campaign than a war.”
We still face many difficult challenges in Iraq. That is undeniable. But we have also made, in recent weeks, measurable progress in establishing security in Baghdad and fighting Al Qaeda in Anbar province.
To deny the difficulties and uncertainties ahead is an egregious disservice to the public. But as General Petraeus implements his plan to correct the flawed strategy we followed in the past and attempts to spare the United States and the world the catastrophe of an American defeat, it is an equal disservice to dismiss early signs of progress.
And now we confront a choice as historically important as any we have faced in a long while.
Will this nation’s elected leaders make the politically hard but strategically vital decision to give General Petraeus our full support and do what is necessary to succeed in Iraq? Or will we decide to take advantage of the public’s frustration, accept defeat and hope that whatever the cost to our security, the politics of defeat will work out better for us than our opponents?
For my part, I would rather lose a campaign than a war.”
Clinton to give ideas for rebuilding gov't
By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer
Fri Apr 13, 3:18 AM ET
NEW YORK - Pledging to rebuild "the competence of government and the confidence of the American people," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says she wants to streamline the functions of the federal government and boost its accountability to taxpayers.
The Democratic presidential front-runner was to offer details of a government reform plan Friday in a speech at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. She was expected to propose cutting 500,000 government contractors for a savings of up to $18 billion a year.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clinton said the government needed to become more consumer-friendly, cost-efficient and transparent in the way it does business.
"We have to bring the government into the 21st century," she said. "We expect to be able to go to an ATM machine, stick a card in and get money, but we can't figure out how to get medical records from the Department of Defense over to the VA. It makes no sense."
Among other things, Clinton said she would propose a Web site that would track the effectiveness of government agencies and start a "corporate subsidy information service" to determine whether such subsidies benefited citizens and not just the corporations that receive them.
She said she would limit the Bush administration practice of hiring private companies to perform government functions and would work to boost the performance of key agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which she said performed well during her husband's White House years.
"People are rightly disturbed by what they see as the incompetence and corruption in this administration. And that's undermined confidence in government, which makes it very difficult for us to meet the challenges we face today," Clinton said.
Her proposals echoed "Reinventing Government," or REGO, a program launched during her husband's administration and run by Vice President Al Gore. REGO was credited with saving taxpayers more than $136 billion over eight years by cutting the federal work force, trimming layers of management and cutting subsidies for items like mohair and wool.
Clinton said some of the proposed changes would be made through executive order and others through legislation. She said she'd move quickly as president to implement the changes.
"We've gone backward in many agencies and we have a string of failures" to repair, she said.
Fri Apr 13, 3:18 AM ET
NEW YORK - Pledging to rebuild "the competence of government and the confidence of the American people," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says she wants to streamline the functions of the federal government and boost its accountability to taxpayers.
The Democratic presidential front-runner was to offer details of a government reform plan Friday in a speech at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. She was expected to propose cutting 500,000 government contractors for a savings of up to $18 billion a year.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clinton said the government needed to become more consumer-friendly, cost-efficient and transparent in the way it does business.
"We have to bring the government into the 21st century," she said. "We expect to be able to go to an ATM machine, stick a card in and get money, but we can't figure out how to get medical records from the Department of Defense over to the VA. It makes no sense."
Among other things, Clinton said she would propose a Web site that would track the effectiveness of government agencies and start a "corporate subsidy information service" to determine whether such subsidies benefited citizens and not just the corporations that receive them.
She said she would limit the Bush administration practice of hiring private companies to perform government functions and would work to boost the performance of key agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which she said performed well during her husband's White House years.
"People are rightly disturbed by what they see as the incompetence and corruption in this administration. And that's undermined confidence in government, which makes it very difficult for us to meet the challenges we face today," Clinton said.
Her proposals echoed "Reinventing Government," or REGO, a program launched during her husband's administration and run by Vice President Al Gore. REGO was credited with saving taxpayers more than $136 billion over eight years by cutting the federal work force, trimming layers of management and cutting subsidies for items like mohair and wool.
Clinton said some of the proposed changes would be made through executive order and others through legislation. She said she'd move quickly as president to implement the changes.
"We've gone backward in many agencies and we have a string of failures" to repair, she said.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Rudy Giuliani Announces Illinois Leadership Team
The Rudy Giuliani Presidential campaign today announced the members of Mayor Rudy Giuliani's Illinois leadership team. The team will be chaired by Tom Cross, the General Assembly’s House Republican Leader, and co-chaired by business leader Ron Gidwitz.
"Mayor Giuliani represents exactly what we need in our next president – a leader who will not only protect our national security but will ensure that the government is run with the same kind of conservative fiscal discipline he used as Mayor of New York City. I’m honored to chair his efforts in Illinois and get to work," said House Republican Leader Tom Cross.
"Given his record, it's clear that Rudy Giuliani is most qualified to lead this nation and I look forward to building his support throughout Illinois," Ron Gidwitz said.
"Our team is working hard to communicate Rudy Giuliani’s positive vision for the country, and we’re pleased to have such strong leaders heading the Mayor's efforts in Illinois," said National Political Director Mark Campbell.
First elected in 1992, Cross is currently serving in his eighth term. A practicing attorney, Representative Cross has been recognized for his legislative efforts by groups such as the Illinois Healthcare Association, the Illinois Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. Gidwitz, a co-founder of the Chicago investment first GCG partners, served as Chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, the Economic Development Commission of the City of Chicago is the chairman of the Illinois Jobs Coalition, a group working to build the job base in Illinois. Gidwitz was a candidate for Governor of the State of Illinois in 2006.
ILLINOIS STATE LEADERS SUPPORTING RUDY GIULIANI
State Senator Christine Radogno: Christine Radogno has served in the Illinois Senate since 1997.
Deputy Republican House Leader Bill Black: Deputy Republican Leader Black has served as State Representative of the 104th District since 1986.
Assistant Republican House Leader Mark Beaubien: Elected to the legislature in 1996, Representative Beaubien serves as the Republican point person in the state budget negotiations.
Assistant Republican House Leader Patricia Linder: Patricia Linder has served in the General Assembly as Representative of the 50th District since 1993.
Assistant Republican House Leader Dave Winters: Representative Dave Winters has been a member of the General Assembly since 1995.
State Representative Suzie Bassi: Representative Bassi has served in the General Assembly as Representative of the 54th District since 1999.
State Representative Franco Coladipietro: Representative Coladipietro is currently serving his first term as Representative of the 45th District.
State Representative Roger Eddy: Roger Eddy serves in the General Assembly as the State Representative of the 109th District since 2003.
State Representative Bill Mitchell: Bill Mitchell has served in the General Assembly since 1999. Prior to joining the General Assembly, Rep. Mitchell served as the Republican County Chairman of Macon County and former Decatur City Council Member.
State Representative Ruth Munson: Ruth Munson is serving her third term in the General Assembly as the State Representative of the 43rd District.
State Representative Dennis Reboletti: Dennis Reboletti is serving his first-term in the Illinois General Assembly representing the 46th District.
State Representative Angelo “Skip” Saviano: Skip Saviano has served in the General Assembly since 1993 as the State Representative of the 77th District.
State Representative Aaron Schock: Aaron Schock of Peoria is currently the State Representative for the 92nd District in Illinois At age 23, Aaron Schock is both the youngest school board president in history and the youngest member of the Illinois Legislature.
State Representative Ed Sullivan: Ed Sullivan is currently serving his second term as State Representative of the 51st District.
State Representative Mike Tryon: Mike Tryon is serving his second term in the General Assembly as Representative of the 64th District.
"Mayor Giuliani represents exactly what we need in our next president – a leader who will not only protect our national security but will ensure that the government is run with the same kind of conservative fiscal discipline he used as Mayor of New York City. I’m honored to chair his efforts in Illinois and get to work," said House Republican Leader Tom Cross.
"Given his record, it's clear that Rudy Giuliani is most qualified to lead this nation and I look forward to building his support throughout Illinois," Ron Gidwitz said.
"Our team is working hard to communicate Rudy Giuliani’s positive vision for the country, and we’re pleased to have such strong leaders heading the Mayor's efforts in Illinois," said National Political Director Mark Campbell.
First elected in 1992, Cross is currently serving in his eighth term. A practicing attorney, Representative Cross has been recognized for his legislative efforts by groups such as the Illinois Healthcare Association, the Illinois Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business and the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. Gidwitz, a co-founder of the Chicago investment first GCG partners, served as Chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, the Economic Development Commission of the City of Chicago is the chairman of the Illinois Jobs Coalition, a group working to build the job base in Illinois. Gidwitz was a candidate for Governor of the State of Illinois in 2006.
ILLINOIS STATE LEADERS SUPPORTING RUDY GIULIANI
State Senator Christine Radogno: Christine Radogno has served in the Illinois Senate since 1997.
Deputy Republican House Leader Bill Black: Deputy Republican Leader Black has served as State Representative of the 104th District since 1986.
Assistant Republican House Leader Mark Beaubien: Elected to the legislature in 1996, Representative Beaubien serves as the Republican point person in the state budget negotiations.
Assistant Republican House Leader Patricia Linder: Patricia Linder has served in the General Assembly as Representative of the 50th District since 1993.
Assistant Republican House Leader Dave Winters: Representative Dave Winters has been a member of the General Assembly since 1995.
State Representative Suzie Bassi: Representative Bassi has served in the General Assembly as Representative of the 54th District since 1999.
State Representative Franco Coladipietro: Representative Coladipietro is currently serving his first term as Representative of the 45th District.
State Representative Roger Eddy: Roger Eddy serves in the General Assembly as the State Representative of the 109th District since 2003.
State Representative Bill Mitchell: Bill Mitchell has served in the General Assembly since 1999. Prior to joining the General Assembly, Rep. Mitchell served as the Republican County Chairman of Macon County and former Decatur City Council Member.
State Representative Ruth Munson: Ruth Munson is serving her third term in the General Assembly as the State Representative of the 43rd District.
State Representative Dennis Reboletti: Dennis Reboletti is serving his first-term in the Illinois General Assembly representing the 46th District.
State Representative Angelo “Skip” Saviano: Skip Saviano has served in the General Assembly since 1993 as the State Representative of the 77th District.
State Representative Aaron Schock: Aaron Schock of Peoria is currently the State Representative for the 92nd District in Illinois At age 23, Aaron Schock is both the youngest school board president in history and the youngest member of the Illinois Legislature.
State Representative Ed Sullivan: Ed Sullivan is currently serving his second term as State Representative of the 51st District.
State Representative Mike Tryon: Mike Tryon is serving his second term in the General Assembly as Representative of the 64th District.
Obama Campaign Aims To Turn Online Backers Into an Offline Force
By Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Saturday, March 31, 2007; Page A03
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois will rally thousands of voters in cities and towns across the country today, part of an effort to ensure that the surge of interest in his campaign will translate into an army of supporters when Democrats begin casting votes 10 months from now.
Obama's "community kickoff" events are billed as first-of-a-kind gatherings aimed at encouraging members of the more than 6,000 groups that were created on his presidential Web site to meet face to face. The candidate is to christen the effort to take his online support offline at a public library in tiny Onawa, Iowa, an appearance that will be streamed live on his Web site.
The meetings are the most high-profile example to date of the Obama campaign's efforts to avoid the fate suffered in 2004 by former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who could not turn online excitement into votes and saw his campaign fizzle dramatically in Iowa.
Like Dean, Obama has gained prominence with rhetoric that has struck a chord with many voters and with his call for a shake-up of the status quo in Washington. Obama's campaign also faces the perils of any insurgent effort: In the second act, can it convince Democrats that nominating him will not compromise the party's chances of winning the White House?
The solution to moving from an online insurgency to an established and serious presidential bid, according to Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, is events such as the one set for today, in which online activists meet in person and begin to build an offline connection.
"The movement for change begins with you," Obama wrote in an e-mail touting the community kickoff event. "It's one thing to understand that in theory. It's another to sit in a room full of motivated people, make a plan and then witness the effects of hard work."
Obama is hardly the only candidate seeking the presidential nomination in 2008 who faces the challenge of converting excitement and interest into activism and votes. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that 65 percent of voters said they are following the presidential race closely; in a Post survey done in April 2003, 37 percent said they were closely monitoring the 2004 campaign.
That intensity has translated into huge crowds packing town halls across Iowa and New Hampshire, thousands signing up as "friends" of the candidates on social networking sites, and tens of millions of dollars already being donated in the first three months of the year. As of last night, Obama's Web site reported he had received more than 100,000 contributions in the first three months of 2007.
The challenge, as one former member of Dean's staff put it, is that "you can generate a lot of press without that translating into actual support."
Ned Lamont's Democratic primary campaign in Connecticut against Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman last year provided a stark reminder of the limits of enthusiasm -- particularly online -- in bringing a campaign across the finish line. After defeating Lieberman in the August primary, thanks in large part to the strong backing of the liberal "Net roots" movement, Lamont could not translate that support into a general election victory, and Lieberman won as an independent in the three-way race.
For Obama, the challenge of turning initial interest into a year-long commitment and, eventually, votes is particularly acute. Unlike his main opponents for the 2008 Democratic nomination -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and former senator John Edwards (N.C.) -- Obama is a newcomer to national politics.
Many of Obama's new supporters "are much like the people we initially started exciting," said Joe Trippi, who was Dean's campaign manager. But it is there that Obama's campaign hopes the comparisons to Dean will end.
Obama's team of experienced field operatives is trying to ensure that relationships with volunteers interested in the campaign are being built both online and offline. The goal is twofold: to gauge how active and committed a supporter is to Obama's candidacy, but also to build a relationship that transcends the person's simply receiving e-mails or joining an online group.
In the first weekend of his campaign for president, Obama signed up more volunteers in Iowa than Al Gore, then the vice president, did in the first six months of his campaign for the 2000 nomination. At a late February rally in Austin, Obama's campaign collected 22,000 e-mail addresses.
"What Obama is creating is this viral network of support," said Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network. "He has a national campaign already."
Some skeptics think Obama lacks the campaign infrastructure to take advantage of the excitement he is creating. "From a distance, it looks like they have an intake-valve problem," said one unaffiliated strategist who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about Obama. "There's more demand than they are able to handle."
Obama's aides are taking pains to show that is not the case. In advance of a rally last weekend in Oakland, Calif., the campaign e-mailed its list requesting volunteers to do advance work and staff the event. Five hundred people gathered at the preliminary meeting. "We now know that they are not only for us but they are active volunteers," Plouffe said.
That approach is based at least in part on Obama's experience as a young community organizer on Chicago's South Side. "Change won't come from the top, I would say," Obama wrote in his memoir, "Dreams From My Father." "Change will come from a mobilized grass roots."
He has put together a field staff built around that idea. Field director Temo Figueroa sits astride the national operation, and Steve Hildebrand, who ran Gore's campaign in Iowa in 1999 and 2000, is tasked with organizing in the early states. In New Hampshire, Obama has signed on Rob Hill, who ran the party's coordinated field operations in Montana in 2006 and Oregon in 2004. Obama's Iowa director is Paul Tewes, a longtime party operative who was Hildebrand's deputy in 2000.
It is in Iowa that the success or failure of Obama's online-to-offline strategy will be measured. To win that state's caucuses requires organizing know-how and execution, a trick Dean -- despite tens of thousands of volunteers across the country -- could not pull off.
"One laboratory you can study very carefully is Iowa, and the truth is [Dean's] online energy was elsewhere," Plouffe said.
Trippi said that of the 650,000 people on Dean's e-mail list, just 2,500 were Iowa residents. That meant that many volunteers working on Dean's get-out-the-vote effort at the caucuses were out-of-towners who were considerably younger than the average Iowa voter, he added.
To avoid that situation, Obama's campaign is seeking to emulate the neighbor-to-neighbor contact President Bush benefited from in the 2004 election. An Iowa resident signing up to receive e-mail updates on Obama's Web site will get a call within days from one of Tewes's team aimed at beginning a personal relationship that, the campaign hopes, will result in that supporter's presence at the caucuses in January. These supporters are invited to organize community meetings, attend caucus training sessions and come to events with the candidate as well as his surrogates.
But no matter how well organized Obama's campaign is in Iowa, his drawing power has a downside. David Yepsen, a columnist for the Des Moines Register, recently wrote: "Barack Obama is getting good crowds in Iowa. Perhaps too good for his own good." Yepsen argued that many attendees at a recent Dubuque event were from out of town, drawn by Obama's star power but ultimately unable to caucus for him.
Obama's campaign is aware of that risk. The lesson learned from Dean's failed effort, according to Plouffe, is to focus as much as possible on "Iowans talking to Iowans."
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Saturday, March 31, 2007; Page A03
Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois will rally thousands of voters in cities and towns across the country today, part of an effort to ensure that the surge of interest in his campaign will translate into an army of supporters when Democrats begin casting votes 10 months from now.
Obama's "community kickoff" events are billed as first-of-a-kind gatherings aimed at encouraging members of the more than 6,000 groups that were created on his presidential Web site to meet face to face. The candidate is to christen the effort to take his online support offline at a public library in tiny Onawa, Iowa, an appearance that will be streamed live on his Web site.
The meetings are the most high-profile example to date of the Obama campaign's efforts to avoid the fate suffered in 2004 by former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who could not turn online excitement into votes and saw his campaign fizzle dramatically in Iowa.
Like Dean, Obama has gained prominence with rhetoric that has struck a chord with many voters and with his call for a shake-up of the status quo in Washington. Obama's campaign also faces the perils of any insurgent effort: In the second act, can it convince Democrats that nominating him will not compromise the party's chances of winning the White House?
The solution to moving from an online insurgency to an established and serious presidential bid, according to Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, is events such as the one set for today, in which online activists meet in person and begin to build an offline connection.
"The movement for change begins with you," Obama wrote in an e-mail touting the community kickoff event. "It's one thing to understand that in theory. It's another to sit in a room full of motivated people, make a plan and then witness the effects of hard work."
Obama is hardly the only candidate seeking the presidential nomination in 2008 who faces the challenge of converting excitement and interest into activism and votes. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that 65 percent of voters said they are following the presidential race closely; in a Post survey done in April 2003, 37 percent said they were closely monitoring the 2004 campaign.
That intensity has translated into huge crowds packing town halls across Iowa and New Hampshire, thousands signing up as "friends" of the candidates on social networking sites, and tens of millions of dollars already being donated in the first three months of the year. As of last night, Obama's Web site reported he had received more than 100,000 contributions in the first three months of 2007.
The challenge, as one former member of Dean's staff put it, is that "you can generate a lot of press without that translating into actual support."
Ned Lamont's Democratic primary campaign in Connecticut against Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman last year provided a stark reminder of the limits of enthusiasm -- particularly online -- in bringing a campaign across the finish line. After defeating Lieberman in the August primary, thanks in large part to the strong backing of the liberal "Net roots" movement, Lamont could not translate that support into a general election victory, and Lieberman won as an independent in the three-way race.
For Obama, the challenge of turning initial interest into a year-long commitment and, eventually, votes is particularly acute. Unlike his main opponents for the 2008 Democratic nomination -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and former senator John Edwards (N.C.) -- Obama is a newcomer to national politics.
Many of Obama's new supporters "are much like the people we initially started exciting," said Joe Trippi, who was Dean's campaign manager. But it is there that Obama's campaign hopes the comparisons to Dean will end.
Obama's team of experienced field operatives is trying to ensure that relationships with volunteers interested in the campaign are being built both online and offline. The goal is twofold: to gauge how active and committed a supporter is to Obama's candidacy, but also to build a relationship that transcends the person's simply receiving e-mails or joining an online group.
In the first weekend of his campaign for president, Obama signed up more volunteers in Iowa than Al Gore, then the vice president, did in the first six months of his campaign for the 2000 nomination. At a late February rally in Austin, Obama's campaign collected 22,000 e-mail addresses.
"What Obama is creating is this viral network of support," said Simon Rosenberg, president of the New Democrat Network. "He has a national campaign already."
Some skeptics think Obama lacks the campaign infrastructure to take advantage of the excitement he is creating. "From a distance, it looks like they have an intake-valve problem," said one unaffiliated strategist who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about Obama. "There's more demand than they are able to handle."
Obama's aides are taking pains to show that is not the case. In advance of a rally last weekend in Oakland, Calif., the campaign e-mailed its list requesting volunteers to do advance work and staff the event. Five hundred people gathered at the preliminary meeting. "We now know that they are not only for us but they are active volunteers," Plouffe said.
That approach is based at least in part on Obama's experience as a young community organizer on Chicago's South Side. "Change won't come from the top, I would say," Obama wrote in his memoir, "Dreams From My Father." "Change will come from a mobilized grass roots."
He has put together a field staff built around that idea. Field director Temo Figueroa sits astride the national operation, and Steve Hildebrand, who ran Gore's campaign in Iowa in 1999 and 2000, is tasked with organizing in the early states. In New Hampshire, Obama has signed on Rob Hill, who ran the party's coordinated field operations in Montana in 2006 and Oregon in 2004. Obama's Iowa director is Paul Tewes, a longtime party operative who was Hildebrand's deputy in 2000.
It is in Iowa that the success or failure of Obama's online-to-offline strategy will be measured. To win that state's caucuses requires organizing know-how and execution, a trick Dean -- despite tens of thousands of volunteers across the country -- could not pull off.
"One laboratory you can study very carefully is Iowa, and the truth is [Dean's] online energy was elsewhere," Plouffe said.
Trippi said that of the 650,000 people on Dean's e-mail list, just 2,500 were Iowa residents. That meant that many volunteers working on Dean's get-out-the-vote effort at the caucuses were out-of-towners who were considerably younger than the average Iowa voter, he added.
To avoid that situation, Obama's campaign is seeking to emulate the neighbor-to-neighbor contact President Bush benefited from in the 2004 election. An Iowa resident signing up to receive e-mail updates on Obama's Web site will get a call within days from one of Tewes's team aimed at beginning a personal relationship that, the campaign hopes, will result in that supporter's presence at the caucuses in January. These supporters are invited to organize community meetings, attend caucus training sessions and come to events with the candidate as well as his surrogates.
But no matter how well organized Obama's campaign is in Iowa, his drawing power has a downside. David Yepsen, a columnist for the Des Moines Register, recently wrote: "Barack Obama is getting good crowds in Iowa. Perhaps too good for his own good." Yepsen argued that many attendees at a recent Dubuque event were from out of town, drawn by Obama's star power but ultimately unable to caucus for him.
Obama's campaign is aware of that risk. The lesson learned from Dean's failed effort, according to Plouffe, is to focus as much as possible on "Iowans talking to Iowans."
Thursday, March 22, 2007
White House 2008: Democratic Nomination
Time Poll conducted by Schulman, Ronca & Bucuvalas (SRBI) Public Affairs. March 9-12, 2007. N=682 registered voters nationwide who are Democrats or lean Democratic.
.
"Now I'm going to read a list of candidates who might be running for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2008. If the Democratic presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, listen carefully to the names and then tell me which candidate you would be most likely to vote for. . . ." Names rotated
.
3/9-12/07 2/23-26/07 1/22-23/07
% % %
Hillary Rodham Clinton 34
36
40
Barack Obama 26
24
21
Al Gore 13
13
9
John Edwards 10
11
11
Dennis Kucinich 2
1
1
Bill Richardson 2
3
4
Joe Biden 1
2
2
Al Sharpton 1
1
1
Chris Dodd -
-
1
Other (vol.) 1
1
1
Will not vote (vol.) 1
1
-
Unsure 10
7
6
John Kerry n/a
n/a
4
Tom Vilsack n/a
n/a
-
.
"What if your choices for the Democratic nomination were just Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and John Edwards -- which one would you vote for if you had to decide today?" Names rotated
.
3/9-12/07 2/23-26/07
% %
Hillary Rodham Clinton 42
42
Barack Obama 31
30
John Edwards 17
22
Other (vol.) 1
-
Will not vote (vol.) 2
2
Unsure 8
4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. March 9-11, 2007. N=447 registered voters nationwide who are Democrats or independents who lean to the Democratic Party. MoE ± 4.5.
.
"Please tell me which of the following people you would be most likely to support for the Democratic nomination for president in the year 2008 . . . ." Names rotated
.
3/9-11/07
%
Hillary Rodham Clinton
37
Barack Obama
22
Al Gore
14
John Edwards
12
Bill Richardson
3
Joe Biden
1
Wesley Clark
1
Dennis Kucinich
1
Christopher Dodd
-
Al Sharpton
-
Unsure
9
.
1/19-21/07 12/5-7/06 11/17-19/06 10/27-29/06 8/30 - 9/2/06
% % % % %
Hillary Rodham Clinton
34
37
33
28
38
Barack Obama
18
15
15
17
n/a
John Edwards
15
9
14
13
12
Al Gore
10
14
14
13
19
John Kerry
5
7
7
12
9
Joe Biden
3
2
3
2
3
Wesley Clark
2
2
4
n/a
n/a
Dennis Kucinich
2
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Bill Richardson
2
2
3
2
3
Christopher Dodd
1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Al Sharpton
1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Tom Vilsack
1
1
1
1
-
Unsure
7
10
4
8
8
Evan Bayh
n/a
1
2
2
2
Russ Feingold
n/a
n/a
n/a
2
3
Mark Warner
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
3
.
Excluding Gore -- recalculated based on second choice of Gore supporters:
.
3/9-11/07 1/19-21/07
% %
Hillary Rodham Clinton
44
37
Barack Obama
23
18
John Edwards
14
16
Bill Richardson
4
2
Wesley Clark
2
2
Joe Biden
1
3
Dennis Kucinich
1
2
Christopher Dodd
-
1
Al Sharpton
-
1
Other/Unsure
10
17
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs. March 5-7, 2007. N=806 registered voters nationwide. Results below are among Democrats and leaners.
.
"If the 2008 Democratic presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were [see below] for whom would you vote?"
.
%
Hillary Clinton 38
Barack Obama 21
Al Gore 14
John Edwards 10
Bill Richardson 4
Joe Biden 1
Chris Dodd -
None 5
Unsure 7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
American Research Group poll. March 2-5, 2007. N=600 likely Democratic primary and caucus voters nationwide. MoE ± 4.
.
Preference for Democratic Presidential Nominee:
.
%
Hillary Clinton 34
Barack Obama 31
John Edwards 15
Bill Richardson 2
Joe Biden 1
Wesley Clark 1
Chris Dodd 1
Dennis Kucinich 1
Mike Gravel -
Unsure 14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by the polling organizations of Peter Hart (D) and Neil Newhouse (R). March 2-5, 2007. Asked of Democrats, and non-Democrats who said they would vote in a Democratic presidential primary (from a total sample of 1,007 adults nationwide).
.
"Let me mention some people who might seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008. If the next Democratic primary for president were being held today, for which one of the following candidates would you vote . . . ?" If unsure: "Well, which way do you lean?"
.
3/2-5/07 12/8-11/06
% %
Hillary Clinton 40
37
Barack Obama 28
18
John Edwards 15
14
Bill Richardson 5
2
Joe Biden 2
4
Wesley Clark 1
n/a
Dennis Kucinich 1
n/a
Chris Dodd 1
n/a
Other (vol.) 1
3
None (vol.) 1
3
Unsure 5
5
John Kerry n/a
11
Evan Bayh n/a
3
Tom Vilsack n/a
-
.
"Thinking of these same candidates again, are there any candidates for whom you would definitely NOT vote for the Democratic nomination for president?"
.
3/2-5/07
%
Hillary Clinton 16
Dennis Kucinich 11
Joe Biden 9
John Edwards 7
Chris Dodd 7
Barack Obama 7
Wesley Clark 5
Bill Richardson 5
Other (vol.) 1
None (vol.) 29
Unsure 17
.
"If the choice for the Democratic nomination came down to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, for whom would you vote?" If unsure: "Well, which way do you lean?"
.
Hillary
Clinton Barack
Obama Neither/
Other (vol.) Unsure
% % % %
3/2-5/07
47 39 4 10
.
"Now I'm going to read a list of candidates who might be running for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 2008. If the Democratic presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, listen carefully to the names and then tell me which candidate you would be most likely to vote for. . . ." Names rotated
.
3/9-12/07 2/23-26/07 1/22-23/07
% % %
Hillary Rodham Clinton 34
36
40
Barack Obama 26
24
21
Al Gore 13
13
9
John Edwards 10
11
11
Dennis Kucinich 2
1
1
Bill Richardson 2
3
4
Joe Biden 1
2
2
Al Sharpton 1
1
1
Chris Dodd -
-
1
Other (vol.) 1
1
1
Will not vote (vol.) 1
1
-
Unsure 10
7
6
John Kerry n/a
n/a
4
Tom Vilsack n/a
n/a
-
.
"What if your choices for the Democratic nomination were just Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama and John Edwards -- which one would you vote for if you had to decide today?" Names rotated
.
3/9-12/07 2/23-26/07
% %
Hillary Rodham Clinton 42
42
Barack Obama 31
30
John Edwards 17
22
Other (vol.) 1
-
Will not vote (vol.) 2
2
Unsure 8
4
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. March 9-11, 2007. N=447 registered voters nationwide who are Democrats or independents who lean to the Democratic Party. MoE ± 4.5.
.
"Please tell me which of the following people you would be most likely to support for the Democratic nomination for president in the year 2008 . . . ." Names rotated
.
3/9-11/07
%
Hillary Rodham Clinton
37
Barack Obama
22
Al Gore
14
John Edwards
12
Bill Richardson
3
Joe Biden
1
Wesley Clark
1
Dennis Kucinich
1
Christopher Dodd
-
Al Sharpton
-
Unsure
9
.
1/19-21/07 12/5-7/06 11/17-19/06 10/27-29/06 8/30 - 9/2/06
% % % % %
Hillary Rodham Clinton
34
37
33
28
38
Barack Obama
18
15
15
17
n/a
John Edwards
15
9
14
13
12
Al Gore
10
14
14
13
19
John Kerry
5
7
7
12
9
Joe Biden
3
2
3
2
3
Wesley Clark
2
2
4
n/a
n/a
Dennis Kucinich
2
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Bill Richardson
2
2
3
2
3
Christopher Dodd
1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Al Sharpton
1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Tom Vilsack
1
1
1
1
-
Unsure
7
10
4
8
8
Evan Bayh
n/a
1
2
2
2
Russ Feingold
n/a
n/a
n/a
2
3
Mark Warner
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
3
.
Excluding Gore -- recalculated based on second choice of Gore supporters:
.
3/9-11/07 1/19-21/07
% %
Hillary Rodham Clinton
44
37
Barack Obama
23
18
John Edwards
14
16
Bill Richardson
4
2
Wesley Clark
2
2
Joe Biden
1
3
Dennis Kucinich
1
2
Christopher Dodd
-
1
Al Sharpton
-
1
Other/Unsure
10
17
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs. March 5-7, 2007. N=806 registered voters nationwide. Results below are among Democrats and leaners.
.
"If the 2008 Democratic presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were [see below] for whom would you vote?"
.
%
Hillary Clinton 38
Barack Obama 21
Al Gore 14
John Edwards 10
Bill Richardson 4
Joe Biden 1
Chris Dodd -
None 5
Unsure 7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
American Research Group poll. March 2-5, 2007. N=600 likely Democratic primary and caucus voters nationwide. MoE ± 4.
.
Preference for Democratic Presidential Nominee:
.
%
Hillary Clinton 34
Barack Obama 31
John Edwards 15
Bill Richardson 2
Joe Biden 1
Wesley Clark 1
Chris Dodd 1
Dennis Kucinich 1
Mike Gravel -
Unsure 14
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by the polling organizations of Peter Hart (D) and Neil Newhouse (R). March 2-5, 2007. Asked of Democrats, and non-Democrats who said they would vote in a Democratic presidential primary (from a total sample of 1,007 adults nationwide).
.
"Let me mention some people who might seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2008. If the next Democratic primary for president were being held today, for which one of the following candidates would you vote . . . ?" If unsure: "Well, which way do you lean?"
.
3/2-5/07 12/8-11/06
% %
Hillary Clinton 40
37
Barack Obama 28
18
John Edwards 15
14
Bill Richardson 5
2
Joe Biden 2
4
Wesley Clark 1
n/a
Dennis Kucinich 1
n/a
Chris Dodd 1
n/a
Other (vol.) 1
3
None (vol.) 1
3
Unsure 5
5
John Kerry n/a
11
Evan Bayh n/a
3
Tom Vilsack n/a
-
.
"Thinking of these same candidates again, are there any candidates for whom you would definitely NOT vote for the Democratic nomination for president?"
.
3/2-5/07
%
Hillary Clinton 16
Dennis Kucinich 11
Joe Biden 9
John Edwards 7
Chris Dodd 7
Barack Obama 7
Wesley Clark 5
Bill Richardson 5
Other (vol.) 1
None (vol.) 29
Unsure 17
.
"If the choice for the Democratic nomination came down to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, for whom would you vote?" If unsure: "Well, which way do you lean?"
.
Hillary
Clinton Barack
Obama Neither/
Other (vol.) Unsure
% % % %
3/2-5/07
47 39 4 10
White House 2008: Republican Nomination
Time Poll conducted by Schulman, Ronca & Bucuvalas (SRBI) Public Affairs. March 9-12, 2007. N=631 registered voters nationwide who are Republicans or lean Republican.
.
"Now I'm going to read a list of candidates who might be running for the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2008. If the Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, listen carefully to the names and then tell me which candidate you would be most likely to vote for. . . ." Names rotated
.
3/9-12/07 2/23-26/07 1/22-23/07
% % %
Rudy Giuliani 40
38
26
John McCain 20
24
30
Newt Gingrich 10
12
14
Mitt Romney 7
7
5
Sam Brownback 2
2
3
Mike Huckabee 2
1
1
Jim Gilmore 1
-
1
Chuck Hagel 1
1
1
Tom Tancredo -
1
1
Other (vol.) 2
1
1
Will not vote (vol.) 2
1
1
Unsure 13
12
14
George Pataki n/a
n/a
2
.
"What if your choices for the Republican nomination were just John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich -- which one would you vote for?" Names rotated
.
%
Rudy Giuliani 43
John McCain 24
Newt Gingrich 13
Mitt Romney 9
Will not vote (vol.) 1
Unsure 9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. March 9-11, 2007. N=401 registered voters nationwide who are Republicans or lean Republican. MoE ± 4.9.
.
"Please tell me which of the following people you would be most likely to support for the Republican nomination for president in the year 2008. . . ." Names rotated
.
3/9-11/07
%
Rudy Giuliani 34
John McCain 18
Newt Gingrich 9
Mitt Romney 9
George Pataki 3
Jim Gilmore 2
Sam Brownback 2
Chuck Hagel 2
Ron Paul 2
Mike Huckabee 1
Tom Tancredo 1
Tommy Thompson 1
Duncan Hunter -
Unsure
17
.
1/19-21/07 12/5-7/06 11/17-19/06 10/27-29/06 8/30 - 9/2/06
% % % % %
Rudy Giuliani 32
29
33
29
32
John McCain 26
24
30
27
21
Newt Gingrich 9
13
9
12
12
Mitt Romney 7
6
9
7
6
Jim Gilmore 3
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
George Pataki 3
2
1
5
3
Sam Brownback 2
2
2
1
1
Chuck Hagel 1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Mike Huckabee 1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Duncan Hunter 1
1
2
n/a
n/a
Ron Paul 1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Tom Tancredo 1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Tommy Thompson 1
2
3
n/a
n/a
Unsure
12
23
8
11
14
Bill Frist n/a
n/a
3
6
4
George Allen n/a
n/a
n/a
2
7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs. March 5-7, 2007. N=806 registered voters nationwide. Results below are among Republicans and leaners.
.
"If the 2008 Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were [see below] for whom would you vote?"
.
%
Rudy Giuliani 35
John McCain 22
Newt Gingrich 11
Mitt Romney 8
Mike Huckabee 3
Sam Brownback 3
None 6
Unsure 12
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
American Research Group poll. March 2-5, 2007. N=600 likely Republican primary and caucus voters nationwide. MoE ± 4.
.
Preference for Republican Presidential Nominee:
.
%
Rudy Giuliani 34
John McCain 30
Newt Gingrich 12
Mitt Romney 7
Sam Brownback 1
Jim Gilmore 1
Chuck Hagel 1
Mike Huckabee 1
George Pataki 1
Ron Paul 1
Tom Tancredo 1
Tommy Thompson 1
Duncan Hunter -
Unsure 9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by the polling organizations of Peter Hart (D) and Neil Newhouse (R). March 2-5, 2007. Asked of Republicans, and non-Republicans who said they would vote in a Republican presidential primary (from a total sample of 1,007 adults nationwide).
.
"Let me mention some people who might seek the Republican nomination for president in 2008. If the next Republican primary for president were being held today, for which one of the following candidates would you vote . . . ?" If unsure: "Well, which way do you lean?"
.
3/2-5/07 12/8-11/06
% %
Rudy Giuliani 38
34
John McCain 24
29
Newt Gingrich 10
10
Mitt Romney 8
8
Sam Brownback 2
2
Mike Huckabee 2
2
Tommy Thompson 2
1
Duncan Hunter 1
n/a
Other (vol.) 1
2
None (vol.) 3
3
Unsure 9
8
George Pataki n/a
1
.
"Thinking of these same candidates again, are there any candidates for whom you would definitely NOT vote for the Republican nomination for president?"
.
3/2-5/07
%
John McCain 20
Newt Gingrich 14
Mitt Romney 9
Rudy Giuliani 7
Sam Brownback 6
Mike Huckabee 4
Tommy Thompson 3
Duncan Hunter 2
None (vol.) 24
Unsure 22
.
"If the choice for the Republican nomination came down to Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, for whom would you vote?" If unsure: "Well, which way do you lean?"
.
Rudy
Giuliani John
McCain Neither/
Other (vol.) Unsure
% % % %
3/2-5/07
55 34 1 10
.
"Now I'm going to read a list of candidates who might be running for the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2008. If the Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, listen carefully to the names and then tell me which candidate you would be most likely to vote for. . . ." Names rotated
.
3/9-12/07 2/23-26/07 1/22-23/07
% % %
Rudy Giuliani 40
38
26
John McCain 20
24
30
Newt Gingrich 10
12
14
Mitt Romney 7
7
5
Sam Brownback 2
2
3
Mike Huckabee 2
1
1
Jim Gilmore 1
-
1
Chuck Hagel 1
1
1
Tom Tancredo -
1
1
Other (vol.) 2
1
1
Will not vote (vol.) 2
1
1
Unsure 13
12
14
George Pataki n/a
n/a
2
.
"What if your choices for the Republican nomination were just John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich -- which one would you vote for?" Names rotated
.
%
Rudy Giuliani 43
John McCain 24
Newt Gingrich 13
Mitt Romney 9
Will not vote (vol.) 1
Unsure 9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll. March 9-11, 2007. N=401 registered voters nationwide who are Republicans or lean Republican. MoE ± 4.9.
.
"Please tell me which of the following people you would be most likely to support for the Republican nomination for president in the year 2008. . . ." Names rotated
.
3/9-11/07
%
Rudy Giuliani 34
John McCain 18
Newt Gingrich 9
Mitt Romney 9
George Pataki 3
Jim Gilmore 2
Sam Brownback 2
Chuck Hagel 2
Ron Paul 2
Mike Huckabee 1
Tom Tancredo 1
Tommy Thompson 1
Duncan Hunter -
Unsure
17
.
1/19-21/07 12/5-7/06 11/17-19/06 10/27-29/06 8/30 - 9/2/06
% % % % %
Rudy Giuliani 32
29
33
29
32
John McCain 26
24
30
27
21
Newt Gingrich 9
13
9
12
12
Mitt Romney 7
6
9
7
6
Jim Gilmore 3
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
George Pataki 3
2
1
5
3
Sam Brownback 2
2
2
1
1
Chuck Hagel 1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Mike Huckabee 1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Duncan Hunter 1
1
2
n/a
n/a
Ron Paul 1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Tom Tancredo 1
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Tommy Thompson 1
2
3
n/a
n/a
Unsure
12
23
8
11
14
Bill Frist n/a
n/a
3
6
4
George Allen n/a
n/a
n/a
2
7
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs. March 5-7, 2007. N=806 registered voters nationwide. Results below are among Republicans and leaners.
.
"If the 2008 Republican presidential primary or caucus in your state were being held today, and the candidates were [see below] for whom would you vote?"
.
%
Rudy Giuliani 35
John McCain 22
Newt Gingrich 11
Mitt Romney 8
Mike Huckabee 3
Sam Brownback 3
None 6
Unsure 12
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
American Research Group poll. March 2-5, 2007. N=600 likely Republican primary and caucus voters nationwide. MoE ± 4.
.
Preference for Republican Presidential Nominee:
.
%
Rudy Giuliani 34
John McCain 30
Newt Gingrich 12
Mitt Romney 7
Sam Brownback 1
Jim Gilmore 1
Chuck Hagel 1
Mike Huckabee 1
George Pataki 1
Ron Paul 1
Tom Tancredo 1
Tommy Thompson 1
Duncan Hunter -
Unsure 9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll conducted by the polling organizations of Peter Hart (D) and Neil Newhouse (R). March 2-5, 2007. Asked of Republicans, and non-Republicans who said they would vote in a Republican presidential primary (from a total sample of 1,007 adults nationwide).
.
"Let me mention some people who might seek the Republican nomination for president in 2008. If the next Republican primary for president were being held today, for which one of the following candidates would you vote . . . ?" If unsure: "Well, which way do you lean?"
.
3/2-5/07 12/8-11/06
% %
Rudy Giuliani 38
34
John McCain 24
29
Newt Gingrich 10
10
Mitt Romney 8
8
Sam Brownback 2
2
Mike Huckabee 2
2
Tommy Thompson 2
1
Duncan Hunter 1
n/a
Other (vol.) 1
2
None (vol.) 3
3
Unsure 9
8
George Pataki n/a
1
.
"Thinking of these same candidates again, are there any candidates for whom you would definitely NOT vote for the Republican nomination for president?"
.
3/2-5/07
%
John McCain 20
Newt Gingrich 14
Mitt Romney 9
Rudy Giuliani 7
Sam Brownback 6
Mike Huckabee 4
Tommy Thompson 3
Duncan Hunter 2
None (vol.) 24
Unsure 22
.
"If the choice for the Republican nomination came down to Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, for whom would you vote?" If unsure: "Well, which way do you lean?"
.
Rudy
Giuliani John
McCain Neither/
Other (vol.) Unsure
% % % %
3/2-5/07
55 34 1 10
Payback sought from new election-spending law
Labour is close to introducing legislation to overhaul election campaign funding rules but Parliament's small parties want to settle grievances over broadcasting time in return for their support.
They are seeking a bigger slice of the $3.2 million in taxpayer funding for election advertising on radio and television.
The Government's proposed reforms are being kept under tight wraps as behind-the-scenes horse trading progresses over the contents of a bill, but National says it's time it was brought into the loop.
The bill will amend the 14-year-old Electoral Act and could be introduced any day.
It is widely expected to usher in a regime of capped state funding of parties, and crackdown on third party and anonymous donations following the row over the Exclusive Brethren's advertising campaign and the way secret trusts were used to channel donations during the 2005 election.
It is also likely to tidy up the rules around election expenses and definitions of election activities after a ruling on these issues from the court battle for Tauranga between NZ First leader Winston Peters and National's Bob Clarkson took some party administrators by surprise.
Well before these controversies, small parties were crying foul over the way the Electoral Commission carved up the $3.2 million available for election broadcast campaigning in 2005 under the Broadcasting Act.
The two main parties again secured the lion's share of the money while the six other parliamentary parties had to share the remaining $1 million.
Political parties are legally barred from campaigning on radio and television outside this funding.
NZ First felt especially hard done by when, despite having 13 MPs at the time, it was granted twice the money of the then single-MP Maori Party for buying broadcast time.
Small parties argue the commission is biased toward the two big parties because its makeup reflects the two-party system before MMP.
The commission's two political party representatives come from Labour, for the Government, and National on behalf of all opposition parties.
NZ First is refusing to comment on its discussions with the Government, and other parties are being unusually cautious in what they will say.
But it is understood several are pressing for concessions on the broadcast funding allocations, knowing the Government wants a healthy majority to back the wider changes to campaign funding rules.
The Green Party has long argued there should be no political party representation on the Electoral Commission and that it should be entirely independent.
Co-leader Russell Norman said the discussions with Labour over the bill's contents were quite advanced, but would not go into detail.
His co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the Greens had not yet decided to support Labour's campaign funding proposals, but she confirmed that the shape and membership of electoral authorities were part of the discussions
She declined to say if the representation issue would be a condition of support. "What I can say is that we will be arguing strongly for all of the issues that we have put forward over the years and trying to get the best outcome that we can."
Discussions were going on among a number of parties and the Greens would talk to any party with a common cause, she said.
ACT leader Rodney Hide said his party opposed restrictions on how people spent their money in politics, but he would not rule out a compromise on the legislation if there could be a fairer allocation of broadcast funds.
All small parties agreed the two big parties were ripping off the system, he said. "They stop you spending your own money and give all the money to themselves."
Small parties were having a good dialogue this year, "and no doubt we'll have a good dialogue on this".
United Future leader Peter Dunne would not discuss details of his party's discussions with Labour on the matter.
Justice Minister Mark Burton's officials reviewed the spending rules, and he will confirm only that work has been done on the bill's framework and consultation with other parties is under way.
The Government was on track for the new law to be passed by the end of the year, he said.
However, it is understood Labour will resist tackling major changes to the Broadcasting Act in time for the 2008 election.
It needs to get the Electoral Act changes settled this year because of a convention that any changes to electoral law should not be made in election year.
There are fears a parallel major rewrite of the broadcasting rules will get bogged down in a debate about the workability of future controls in the Internet age.
But sources say Labour intends to at least tighten the enforcement provisions for breaches of the broadcast rules after National effectively breached its allocation in a mixup over its GST bill, without penalty.
National deputy leader Bill English said it was time National was brought into the discussions because the changes were to the electoral system and would affect everyone.
"In the past, the political parties all had to compromise to get a set of rules that broadly had all the support of the political parties, and that's the approach we want to see continued," he said.
National was keen for more transparency, tighter rules around third-party advertising and a better enforcement regime but it opposed state funding of political parties, he said.
"It would be, I think, unacceptable to the public to have the Government legislate to take taxpayers' money to put into the Labour Party bank account," Mr English said.
"We are concerned that the Government hasn't approached us because they're wanting to try to get a majority for state funding with a ceiling."
* Under the present law, parties that field candidates in all seats can spend no more than $2.38 million on campaign expenses, excluding their state-funded broadcast allocations.
They are seeking a bigger slice of the $3.2 million in taxpayer funding for election advertising on radio and television.
The Government's proposed reforms are being kept under tight wraps as behind-the-scenes horse trading progresses over the contents of a bill, but National says it's time it was brought into the loop.
The bill will amend the 14-year-old Electoral Act and could be introduced any day.
It is widely expected to usher in a regime of capped state funding of parties, and crackdown on third party and anonymous donations following the row over the Exclusive Brethren's advertising campaign and the way secret trusts were used to channel donations during the 2005 election.
It is also likely to tidy up the rules around election expenses and definitions of election activities after a ruling on these issues from the court battle for Tauranga between NZ First leader Winston Peters and National's Bob Clarkson took some party administrators by surprise.
Well before these controversies, small parties were crying foul over the way the Electoral Commission carved up the $3.2 million available for election broadcast campaigning in 2005 under the Broadcasting Act.
The two main parties again secured the lion's share of the money while the six other parliamentary parties had to share the remaining $1 million.
Political parties are legally barred from campaigning on radio and television outside this funding.
NZ First felt especially hard done by when, despite having 13 MPs at the time, it was granted twice the money of the then single-MP Maori Party for buying broadcast time.
Small parties argue the commission is biased toward the two big parties because its makeup reflects the two-party system before MMP.
The commission's two political party representatives come from Labour, for the Government, and National on behalf of all opposition parties.
NZ First is refusing to comment on its discussions with the Government, and other parties are being unusually cautious in what they will say.
But it is understood several are pressing for concessions on the broadcast funding allocations, knowing the Government wants a healthy majority to back the wider changes to campaign funding rules.
The Green Party has long argued there should be no political party representation on the Electoral Commission and that it should be entirely independent.
Co-leader Russell Norman said the discussions with Labour over the bill's contents were quite advanced, but would not go into detail.
His co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said the Greens had not yet decided to support Labour's campaign funding proposals, but she confirmed that the shape and membership of electoral authorities were part of the discussions
She declined to say if the representation issue would be a condition of support. "What I can say is that we will be arguing strongly for all of the issues that we have put forward over the years and trying to get the best outcome that we can."
Discussions were going on among a number of parties and the Greens would talk to any party with a common cause, she said.
ACT leader Rodney Hide said his party opposed restrictions on how people spent their money in politics, but he would not rule out a compromise on the legislation if there could be a fairer allocation of broadcast funds.
All small parties agreed the two big parties were ripping off the system, he said. "They stop you spending your own money and give all the money to themselves."
Small parties were having a good dialogue this year, "and no doubt we'll have a good dialogue on this".
United Future leader Peter Dunne would not discuss details of his party's discussions with Labour on the matter.
Justice Minister Mark Burton's officials reviewed the spending rules, and he will confirm only that work has been done on the bill's framework and consultation with other parties is under way.
The Government was on track for the new law to be passed by the end of the year, he said.
However, it is understood Labour will resist tackling major changes to the Broadcasting Act in time for the 2008 election.
It needs to get the Electoral Act changes settled this year because of a convention that any changes to electoral law should not be made in election year.
There are fears a parallel major rewrite of the broadcasting rules will get bogged down in a debate about the workability of future controls in the Internet age.
But sources say Labour intends to at least tighten the enforcement provisions for breaches of the broadcast rules after National effectively breached its allocation in a mixup over its GST bill, without penalty.
National deputy leader Bill English said it was time National was brought into the discussions because the changes were to the electoral system and would affect everyone.
"In the past, the political parties all had to compromise to get a set of rules that broadly had all the support of the political parties, and that's the approach we want to see continued," he said.
National was keen for more transparency, tighter rules around third-party advertising and a better enforcement regime but it opposed state funding of political parties, he said.
"It would be, I think, unacceptable to the public to have the Government legislate to take taxpayers' money to put into the Labour Party bank account," Mr English said.
"We are concerned that the Government hasn't approached us because they're wanting to try to get a majority for state funding with a ceiling."
* Under the present law, parties that field candidates in all seats can spend no more than $2.38 million on campaign expenses, excluding their state-funded broadcast allocations.
Early voting could upend 2008 primaries
Presidential candidates may be forced to recalibrate their strategies
SALEM, Ore. - Early voting poses an under-the-radar challenge to Iowa and New Hampshire's long-prized status as the first in the nation to decide presidential preferences.
Voters in a number of the states that are circling the Feb. 5 presidential primary date - including California, Oregon and Montana - could begin casting ballots as early as Jan. 5, nine days before the Iowa caucuses.
In at least 10 of the possible Feb. 5 primary states, estimates are that more than 30 percent of voters cast their ballot before Election Day in November 2004, some in person at county elections offices, and some via mail-in ballots.
Political analysts say the early voting trends in those states could force presidential candidates to recalibrate their strategies and resources in an already crowded primary season.
Paul Gronke, a political science professor at Oregon's Reed College and the director of the Early Voting Information Center there, said the early voting trends combined with the Feb. 5 primaries are a boon for the "well-funded, well-known campaign. You have to begin your mobilization efforts so much earlier - you simply cannot ignore those absentee voters."
Watching early voter trends
With minds being made up earlier, experts say, there's less chance that a late-breaking event, like a surprisingly strong finish in Iowa or New Hampshire, can influence voters elsewhere.
Early voting can also work in a candidate's favor, particularly during primaries, which tend to attract the most motivated voters. Fervent supporters can be nudged to vote early, Gronke said, freeing up a candidate to target swing voters and undecideds in a campaign's waning days, without worry about alienating loyalists.
With the primary calendar so in flux, campaigns and the two major parties are keeping a close eye on the early voting trends.
"Clearly the moves will force candidates, as always, to make decisions about where they will spend their time and money," said Karen Finney, communications director for the Democratic National Committee.
Move toward early voting
Early voting, which political scientists say is on the rise, is most common in the West. Oregon, for example, is the only state in the country that has moved entirely to a vote-by-mail system; in the 2004 presidential election, 85 percent of voters in the state had sent in their ballot before Election Day.
The state's primary is currently scheduled for May, but lawmakers are seriously considering changing the date to early February.
"It's a contest that will already have been decided long before the May primary," said Democratic state Rep. Diane Rosenbaum at a hearing on the issue Wednesday. "I don't see that there is much to be gained by continuing to go with that later date."
In Texas, where 32 percent of the votes came in before Election Day in 2004 and ballots would go out on Jan. 19, 2008, "no-excuse" absentee balloting is in place. Voters can ask for an absentee ballot, without providing any explanation or reason for their request.
And in Montana, voters can cast their ballot early in person, at any satellite location or at the county elections offices. Thirty-two percent of the state's voters cast their ballots before Election Day in 2004; early voting would open on Jan. 5 if the state moves to a Feb. 5 primary.
Experts said that though early voting might change a candidate's on-the-ground plan, the results will come from Iowa and New Hampshire, and results are what everyone will be waiting for.
"The value of the early primaries is to show some strength in results," said John Fortier, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., who has studied early and absentee voting trends. "If you don't show electoral strength in the early states, you won't do well on February 5th."
SALEM, Ore. - Early voting poses an under-the-radar challenge to Iowa and New Hampshire's long-prized status as the first in the nation to decide presidential preferences.
Voters in a number of the states that are circling the Feb. 5 presidential primary date - including California, Oregon and Montana - could begin casting ballots as early as Jan. 5, nine days before the Iowa caucuses.
In at least 10 of the possible Feb. 5 primary states, estimates are that more than 30 percent of voters cast their ballot before Election Day in November 2004, some in person at county elections offices, and some via mail-in ballots.
Political analysts say the early voting trends in those states could force presidential candidates to recalibrate their strategies and resources in an already crowded primary season.
Paul Gronke, a political science professor at Oregon's Reed College and the director of the Early Voting Information Center there, said the early voting trends combined with the Feb. 5 primaries are a boon for the "well-funded, well-known campaign. You have to begin your mobilization efforts so much earlier - you simply cannot ignore those absentee voters."
Watching early voter trends
With minds being made up earlier, experts say, there's less chance that a late-breaking event, like a surprisingly strong finish in Iowa or New Hampshire, can influence voters elsewhere.
Early voting can also work in a candidate's favor, particularly during primaries, which tend to attract the most motivated voters. Fervent supporters can be nudged to vote early, Gronke said, freeing up a candidate to target swing voters and undecideds in a campaign's waning days, without worry about alienating loyalists.
With the primary calendar so in flux, campaigns and the two major parties are keeping a close eye on the early voting trends.
"Clearly the moves will force candidates, as always, to make decisions about where they will spend their time and money," said Karen Finney, communications director for the Democratic National Committee.
Move toward early voting
Early voting, which political scientists say is on the rise, is most common in the West. Oregon, for example, is the only state in the country that has moved entirely to a vote-by-mail system; in the 2004 presidential election, 85 percent of voters in the state had sent in their ballot before Election Day.
The state's primary is currently scheduled for May, but lawmakers are seriously considering changing the date to early February.
"It's a contest that will already have been decided long before the May primary," said Democratic state Rep. Diane Rosenbaum at a hearing on the issue Wednesday. "I don't see that there is much to be gained by continuing to go with that later date."
In Texas, where 32 percent of the votes came in before Election Day in 2004 and ballots would go out on Jan. 19, 2008, "no-excuse" absentee balloting is in place. Voters can ask for an absentee ballot, without providing any explanation or reason for their request.
And in Montana, voters can cast their ballot early in person, at any satellite location or at the county elections offices. Thirty-two percent of the state's voters cast their ballots before Election Day in 2004; early voting would open on Jan. 5 if the state moves to a Feb. 5 primary.
Experts said that though early voting might change a candidate's on-the-ground plan, the results will come from Iowa and New Hampshire, and results are what everyone will be waiting for.
"The value of the early primaries is to show some strength in results," said John Fortier, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C., who has studied early and absentee voting trends. "If you don't show electoral strength in the early states, you won't do well on February 5th."
Mitt Romney On The American Dream
Mitt Romney is former governor of Massachusetts, and a Republican candidate for president. He previously served as chairman of the Republican Governors Association and president and CEO of the Salt Lake Olympics Organizing Committee.
What is the American Dream?
Growing up, the American Dream meant a house in the suburbs. Today’s American Dream must mean more. The new American Dream should include a strong family, enduring values, excellence in education, dependable and affordable health care, secure employment and secure retirement, and a safe and prosperous homeland.
To realize the American Dream, we must strengthen the American people by giving them more freedom, by letting them keep more of what they earn, by making sure our schools are providing the skills our children will need for tomorrow, and by keeping America at the leading edge of innovation and technology. Freedom is at the heart of the American Dream.
--Interviewed by Evelyn Rusli
What is the American Dream?
Growing up, the American Dream meant a house in the suburbs. Today’s American Dream must mean more. The new American Dream should include a strong family, enduring values, excellence in education, dependable and affordable health care, secure employment and secure retirement, and a safe and prosperous homeland.
To realize the American Dream, we must strengthen the American people by giving them more freedom, by letting them keep more of what they earn, by making sure our schools are providing the skills our children will need for tomorrow, and by keeping America at the leading edge of innovation and technology. Freedom is at the heart of the American Dream.
--Interviewed by Evelyn Rusli
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Let presidential candidates sue one another for libel
ROWAYTON, CONN. - How do we make America's 2008 presidential campaign more honest? With lawsuits – lots of libel lawsuits, to be specific.
Now we may need a bit of help from the United States Congress, and we may need the Supreme Court to look the other way, but, heck, such lawsuits would most definitely be in the public interest.
Return with me now to March 1964, when Justice William Brennan, writing for an essentially unanimous Supreme Court, delivered the landmark decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
The court ruled that a public official cannot maintain a libel lawsuit against a publisher of an aspersion, disparagement, denigration, or the like, unless that public official can show that the damaging description or portrayal was published with actual malice.
In other words, a public official can only win a libel action if that plaintiff can prove that the damaging item was not only false, but – in addition – was published with actual knowledge that it was false or was published with reckless disregard as to whether it was true or false. OK, enough law stuff.
While the Times v. Sullivan decision was sound, admirable, and truly in keeping with the best tenets of the authors of the US Constitution, a teeny-weeny exception could be just the thing to rein in the campaign slurs that are soon to be launched.
The exception: Just assume that any candidate for the presidency who disparages another candidate for the presidency is doing so with malice, with knowing falsehood, and with reckless disregard for truth. It comes with the territory.
This little exemption would allow a presidential candidate who deems himself or herself directly slandered by another candidate to sue that person for defamation. That way, we pit the defamed against the defamer, and the press is left out of it.
Imagine that John McCain (news, bio, voting record), or one of the ads he approves, says something particularly disparaging about Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record). We would get Obama v. McCain – in a court, under oath. Or suppose Hillary Clinton, or one of her ads, says something especially critical of Rudy Giuliani. We would get Giuliani v. Clinton in court, under oath. Or we might get Edwards v. Romney in court and under oath.
With expedited trials prior to Tuesday Nov. 4, 2008, the American electorate would get what no political action committee, Federal Election Commission, or editorial board is able to elicit reliably – candidates swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Plus, candidates (and their slandermeisters) would face pecuniary peril. They would have to pay hefty legal fees and run expensive retractions for any malicious falsehoods.
Run a negative ad as a presidential candidate, and you run the risk of a negative verdict prior to Election Day.
In a court of law, the dissembling and evasiveness and sidestepping (which are the hallmarks of so many utterances by politicians) would be interrogated, exposed, and legally challenged. The alleged defamers would have to produce real evidence and sworn testimony to back up their aspersions.
With presidential candidates under oath, we might actually get some truth – and consequences for those politicians who deserve them.
• Joseph H. Cooper was editorial counsel at The New Yorker from 1976 to 1996. He now teaches media law and ethics at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.
Now we may need a bit of help from the United States Congress, and we may need the Supreme Court to look the other way, but, heck, such lawsuits would most definitely be in the public interest.
Return with me now to March 1964, when Justice William Brennan, writing for an essentially unanimous Supreme Court, delivered the landmark decision in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan.
The court ruled that a public official cannot maintain a libel lawsuit against a publisher of an aspersion, disparagement, denigration, or the like, unless that public official can show that the damaging description or portrayal was published with actual malice.
In other words, a public official can only win a libel action if that plaintiff can prove that the damaging item was not only false, but – in addition – was published with actual knowledge that it was false or was published with reckless disregard as to whether it was true or false. OK, enough law stuff.
While the Times v. Sullivan decision was sound, admirable, and truly in keeping with the best tenets of the authors of the US Constitution, a teeny-weeny exception could be just the thing to rein in the campaign slurs that are soon to be launched.
The exception: Just assume that any candidate for the presidency who disparages another candidate for the presidency is doing so with malice, with knowing falsehood, and with reckless disregard for truth. It comes with the territory.
This little exemption would allow a presidential candidate who deems himself or herself directly slandered by another candidate to sue that person for defamation. That way, we pit the defamed against the defamer, and the press is left out of it.
Imagine that John McCain (news, bio, voting record), or one of the ads he approves, says something particularly disparaging about Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record). We would get Obama v. McCain – in a court, under oath. Or suppose Hillary Clinton, or one of her ads, says something especially critical of Rudy Giuliani. We would get Giuliani v. Clinton in court, under oath. Or we might get Edwards v. Romney in court and under oath.
With expedited trials prior to Tuesday Nov. 4, 2008, the American electorate would get what no political action committee, Federal Election Commission, or editorial board is able to elicit reliably – candidates swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Plus, candidates (and their slandermeisters) would face pecuniary peril. They would have to pay hefty legal fees and run expensive retractions for any malicious falsehoods.
Run a negative ad as a presidential candidate, and you run the risk of a negative verdict prior to Election Day.
In a court of law, the dissembling and evasiveness and sidestepping (which are the hallmarks of so many utterances by politicians) would be interrogated, exposed, and legally challenged. The alleged defamers would have to produce real evidence and sworn testimony to back up their aspersions.
With presidential candidates under oath, we might actually get some truth – and consequences for those politicians who deserve them.
• Joseph H. Cooper was editorial counsel at The New Yorker from 1976 to 1996. He now teaches media law and ethics at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn.
Online firms boot up for 2008 campaign
Companies see growing opportunities in politics
Howard Dean was dubbed the Internet candidate in the 2004 presidential race, but his efforts to campaign online seem primitive compared to the services companies are touting for next year's election.
From creating video games starring candidates to hosting virtual online campaign events, Internet companies see increasing opportunities in the business of politics.
That was the message at a two-day conference on online politics at George Washington University this week that brought together more than 500 political consultants, campaign operatives and start-up Internet company representatives, many of them part of the fledgling "Internet political mafia," as Andrew Rasiej of the popular blog Personal Democracy Forum described it.
Howard Dean was dubbed the Internet candidate in the 2004 presidential race, but his efforts to campaign online seem primitive compared to the services companies are touting for next year's election.
From creating video games starring candidates to hosting virtual online campaign events, Internet companies see increasing opportunities in the business of politics.
That was the message at a two-day conference on online politics at George Washington University this week that brought together more than 500 political consultants, campaign operatives and start-up Internet company representatives, many of them part of the fledgling "Internet political mafia," as Andrew Rasiej of the popular blog Personal Democracy Forum described it.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Ohio Democrat Kilroy Gets Company in House Race Against Pryce
By Greg Giroux, CONGRESSIONAL QUARTERLY
Published: March 13, 2007
It may still be a year until Ohio holds its congressional primary for the 2008 general election, but Democrats in the Columbus-centered 15th District already know they might have to choose between two county commission colleagues angling to challenge Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce, who was narrowly re-elected last November to her eighth term.
Will Democrats again opt for Mary Jo Kilroy, who nearly defeated Pryce in 2006, and who announced last Thursday that she will run again in 2008? Or will party voters opt for Paula Brooks — like Kilroy a Franklin County (Columbus) commissioner — who is exploring a run for the seat?
CQPolitics.com interviewed Kilroy last Thursday afternoon, shortly after her campaign issued a statement saying that she intended to run again in 2008 after losing to Pryce by 1,062 votes last November. In that interview, Kilroy said that she wanted to build on the momentum from her 2006 campaign and accused Pryce of continuing to vote in lockstep with President Bush.
CQPolitics.com spoke with Brooks on Tuesday about her planned bid, which is technically in the “exploratory” phase but seems certain to blossom into an official candidacy.
Brooks — who early this year organized a “527” committee with the Internal Revenue Service to raise money for political causes — has not yet filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to set up a “hard money” fundraising committee that she can use to run a full-fledged House campaign. She plans, though, to hold a fundraiser on April 24.
Brooks said she formed an exploratory effort “to follow up on the many, many people who have frankly come to me and said that I should be our Democratic candidate.”
“I think I bring a fresh and energetic approach,” Brooks said.
Exploratory committees usually are precursors to full-fledged campaigns. Asked if there was anything that would compel her to drop her exploratory bid, Brooks replied, “Not at this time.”
Brooks’ lengthy public service career includes serving eight years as a city councilor in Upper Arlington, a suburb northwest of Columbus that has historically voted Republican, including for Bush in 2004. Brooks was elected Franklin County commissioner in 2004, winning 57 percent of the vote in a jurisdiction that accounted for about 86 percent of the overall 15th District electorate in 2006.
Brooks shared a ballot with Kilroy, who was re-elected with 53 percent.
After two-plus years on the county commission, Brooks said, “I’m looking at the federal level now because, frankly, it’s the right time in my life, and I feel a major commitment to seeing this country turned around.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee has said that it expects Pryce to win again in 2008, pointing to her survival in a strongly anti-Republican political environment in which the GOP was hurt by scandals involving some prominent Ohio Republicans.
Published: March 13, 2007
It may still be a year until Ohio holds its congressional primary for the 2008 general election, but Democrats in the Columbus-centered 15th District already know they might have to choose between two county commission colleagues angling to challenge Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce, who was narrowly re-elected last November to her eighth term.
Will Democrats again opt for Mary Jo Kilroy, who nearly defeated Pryce in 2006, and who announced last Thursday that she will run again in 2008? Or will party voters opt for Paula Brooks — like Kilroy a Franklin County (Columbus) commissioner — who is exploring a run for the seat?
CQPolitics.com interviewed Kilroy last Thursday afternoon, shortly after her campaign issued a statement saying that she intended to run again in 2008 after losing to Pryce by 1,062 votes last November. In that interview, Kilroy said that she wanted to build on the momentum from her 2006 campaign and accused Pryce of continuing to vote in lockstep with President Bush.
CQPolitics.com spoke with Brooks on Tuesday about her planned bid, which is technically in the “exploratory” phase but seems certain to blossom into an official candidacy.
Brooks — who early this year organized a “527” committee with the Internal Revenue Service to raise money for political causes — has not yet filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to set up a “hard money” fundraising committee that she can use to run a full-fledged House campaign. She plans, though, to hold a fundraiser on April 24.
Brooks said she formed an exploratory effort “to follow up on the many, many people who have frankly come to me and said that I should be our Democratic candidate.”
“I think I bring a fresh and energetic approach,” Brooks said.
Exploratory committees usually are precursors to full-fledged campaigns. Asked if there was anything that would compel her to drop her exploratory bid, Brooks replied, “Not at this time.”
Brooks’ lengthy public service career includes serving eight years as a city councilor in Upper Arlington, a suburb northwest of Columbus that has historically voted Republican, including for Bush in 2004. Brooks was elected Franklin County commissioner in 2004, winning 57 percent of the vote in a jurisdiction that accounted for about 86 percent of the overall 15th District electorate in 2006.
Brooks shared a ballot with Kilroy, who was re-elected with 53 percent.
After two-plus years on the county commission, Brooks said, “I’m looking at the federal level now because, frankly, it’s the right time in my life, and I feel a major commitment to seeing this country turned around.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee has said that it expects Pryce to win again in 2008, pointing to her survival in a strongly anti-Republican political environment in which the GOP was hurt by scandals involving some prominent Ohio Republicans.
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
2008 Race, 20 Months Away, Dominating TV: Unusual Amount of 2008 Presidential Campaign Coverage for an Election 20 Months Away
By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer
NEW YORK Mar 4, 2007 (AP)— Two months before the 1992 presidential election, an NBC reporter cornered a man to ask whether he preferred Bill Clinton or President Bush.
The man said he didn't care. He just wanted them off his TV screen.
Imagine how he'd feel today?
The 2008 campaign is already playing out so intensely that it dominates airtime at a point where only political junkies usually pay attention. Remember: it's 20 months before voters will make the ultimate decision.
This is uncharted territory for people in both politics and television, who wonder when campaign fatigue will set in. Many Americans may be sick of seeing their next president before he or she even takes the oath of office.
In one measure of news interest, campaign stories have consumed 95 minutes of attention this year through Feb. 27 on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts. That's more time than in the comparable periods for the previous four presidential election cycles combined, according to the Tyndall Report.
Presidential politics was so far off the radar in January and February 1991 that the three newscasts together spent less than a minute on the upcoming campaign.
The study doesn't even take into account time chewed up by the cable TV networks, with their gaping 24-hour news holes. CNN was around in 1991, but Fox News Channel and MSNBC didn't exist. Neither did "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart.
"It used to be that campaigning was the interval between governing," said Bob Schieffer, host of CBS' "Face the Nation." "Now governing is the interval between campaigning."
Behind Iraq, the 2008 campaign is the top news story of 2007. The Project for Excellence in Journalism, which compiles a weekly news index taking broadcast and cable TV, newspapers and the Internet into account, said the campaign was the top story the week of Feb. 18-23. The biggest development then was Hollywood mogul David Geffen taking shots at Hillary Clinton, and the campaigns of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama sniping at each other in response. The story is likely to be forgotten in two months, let alone 20.
Television is responding to the unusual early activity in this campaign and, to a certain degree, the public, said George Stephanopoulos, ABC's "This Week" host. Nearly two-thirds of people responding to an ABC-Washington Post poll this week said they were following the campaign closely.
"That is simply astonishing," Stephanopoulos said. "Those are the kind of numbers you see at convention time, not 20 months before the elections."
Many factors are at play: The Iraq war has deeply divided the public and, polls say, many Americans have already checked out on the Bush presidency; the 2008 election will be the first in 82 years with no involvement by an incumbent president or vice president; the biggest political stars of the day are involved, including John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Clinton and Obama.
Knowing the importance of raising money and preparing for a condensed primary season where nominations could be sewn up in a month, the candidates are already running hard.
A campaign where voters have nothing to say for another year exaggerates the media's importance.
Neat narratives and conventional wisdom are already developing. Few Americans could pick Mitt Romney out of a lineup, but know him as the flip-flopper trying to appear more conservative than he is. Giuliani is America's mayor who may be undone by his liberalism. McCain's moment has passed and he's weighed down by his support for the war. Obama's the rookie repository for American dreams. Joseph Biden's campaign was born and died on the same day when he made remarks perceived as racially insensitive. Clinton? Everybody knows Clinton and has made up their minds about her.
Each story line may have a ring of truth now. Time might decide otherwise. So might voters.
"One of the risks of a protracted campaign that doesn't involve voters is you get a kind of creative reality," said Tom Rosenstiel, a former political reporter for the Los Angeles Times and now director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Consider some conventional wisdom of the past: Howard Dean was on the way to the Democratic nomination and John Kerry's campaign was cooked, at least in late 2003. The George Bush who ran in 2000 was a compassionate conservative and non-idealogue who worked well with Democrats.
Candidates left out of the narrative may never have a chance. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack abandoned his bid for the presidency almost a year before voters in his state meet for their closely watched caucuses.
An aide to Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd called NBC's Chris Matthews to ask him to please not forget his boss' name when talking about the second tier of candidates, Matthews said.
"The hardest thing when I make my quadrennial resolutions is `don't pay attention to early polls,'" Matthews said. "But it is so hard not to."
On the flip side, Schieffer is convinced that Giuliani's surge in the polls may partly be due to McCain's overfamiliarity. McCain is on the news all the time while Giuliani has kept an air of mystery about him, he said.
The veteran Schieffer worries about the impact of a long campaign. The topic has been bandied about in several newsrooms.
"I find myself getting tired of it," he said. "I really do. I love politics, I'm a political reporter. But when they go on and on and on, they just wear you out."
Logic tells Stephanopoulos that there will be lulls in the campaign. But this one may be different. In that, news organizations won't be the drivers, the newsmen say. They'll be driven.
"As long as there is news with the campaigns themselves, we're going to cover it," he said.
NEW YORK Mar 4, 2007 (AP)— Two months before the 1992 presidential election, an NBC reporter cornered a man to ask whether he preferred Bill Clinton or President Bush.
The man said he didn't care. He just wanted them off his TV screen.
Imagine how he'd feel today?
The 2008 campaign is already playing out so intensely that it dominates airtime at a point where only political junkies usually pay attention. Remember: it's 20 months before voters will make the ultimate decision.
This is uncharted territory for people in both politics and television, who wonder when campaign fatigue will set in. Many Americans may be sick of seeing their next president before he or she even takes the oath of office.
In one measure of news interest, campaign stories have consumed 95 minutes of attention this year through Feb. 27 on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts. That's more time than in the comparable periods for the previous four presidential election cycles combined, according to the Tyndall Report.
Presidential politics was so far off the radar in January and February 1991 that the three newscasts together spent less than a minute on the upcoming campaign.
The study doesn't even take into account time chewed up by the cable TV networks, with their gaping 24-hour news holes. CNN was around in 1991, but Fox News Channel and MSNBC didn't exist. Neither did "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart.
"It used to be that campaigning was the interval between governing," said Bob Schieffer, host of CBS' "Face the Nation." "Now governing is the interval between campaigning."
Behind Iraq, the 2008 campaign is the top news story of 2007. The Project for Excellence in Journalism, which compiles a weekly news index taking broadcast and cable TV, newspapers and the Internet into account, said the campaign was the top story the week of Feb. 18-23. The biggest development then was Hollywood mogul David Geffen taking shots at Hillary Clinton, and the campaigns of Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama sniping at each other in response. The story is likely to be forgotten in two months, let alone 20.
Television is responding to the unusual early activity in this campaign and, to a certain degree, the public, said George Stephanopoulos, ABC's "This Week" host. Nearly two-thirds of people responding to an ABC-Washington Post poll this week said they were following the campaign closely.
"That is simply astonishing," Stephanopoulos said. "Those are the kind of numbers you see at convention time, not 20 months before the elections."
Many factors are at play: The Iraq war has deeply divided the public and, polls say, many Americans have already checked out on the Bush presidency; the 2008 election will be the first in 82 years with no involvement by an incumbent president or vice president; the biggest political stars of the day are involved, including John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Clinton and Obama.
Knowing the importance of raising money and preparing for a condensed primary season where nominations could be sewn up in a month, the candidates are already running hard.
A campaign where voters have nothing to say for another year exaggerates the media's importance.
Neat narratives and conventional wisdom are already developing. Few Americans could pick Mitt Romney out of a lineup, but know him as the flip-flopper trying to appear more conservative than he is. Giuliani is America's mayor who may be undone by his liberalism. McCain's moment has passed and he's weighed down by his support for the war. Obama's the rookie repository for American dreams. Joseph Biden's campaign was born and died on the same day when he made remarks perceived as racially insensitive. Clinton? Everybody knows Clinton and has made up their minds about her.
Each story line may have a ring of truth now. Time might decide otherwise. So might voters.
"One of the risks of a protracted campaign that doesn't involve voters is you get a kind of creative reality," said Tom Rosenstiel, a former political reporter for the Los Angeles Times and now director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism.
Consider some conventional wisdom of the past: Howard Dean was on the way to the Democratic nomination and John Kerry's campaign was cooked, at least in late 2003. The George Bush who ran in 2000 was a compassionate conservative and non-idealogue who worked well with Democrats.
Candidates left out of the narrative may never have a chance. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack abandoned his bid for the presidency almost a year before voters in his state meet for their closely watched caucuses.
An aide to Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd called NBC's Chris Matthews to ask him to please not forget his boss' name when talking about the second tier of candidates, Matthews said.
"The hardest thing when I make my quadrennial resolutions is `don't pay attention to early polls,'" Matthews said. "But it is so hard not to."
On the flip side, Schieffer is convinced that Giuliani's surge in the polls may partly be due to McCain's overfamiliarity. McCain is on the news all the time while Giuliani has kept an air of mystery about him, he said.
The veteran Schieffer worries about the impact of a long campaign. The topic has been bandied about in several newsrooms.
"I find myself getting tired of it," he said. "I really do. I love politics, I'm a political reporter. But when they go on and on and on, they just wear you out."
Logic tells Stephanopoulos that there will be lulls in the campaign. But this one may be different. In that, news organizations won't be the drivers, the newsmen say. They'll be driven.
"As long as there is news with the campaigns themselves, we're going to cover it," he said.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Obama and Clinton vie for black vote
Posted by Mike Dorning at 6:15 am CST
SELMA, Ala. – At a church that served as starting point for a historic civil rights march, Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday positioned his presidential campaign as a part of the long struggle for African-American political representation.
Obama, an Illinois Democrat, declared himself part of a new cohort of black political leaders that he called "the Joshua Generation." It was Joshua, the Biblical successor to Moses, who led the Jewish people to the Promised Land after Moses delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Surrounded on the altar by several veterans of the 1960s freedom marches, some of whom were beaten and bloodied for the cause, Obama said: "We are in the presence today of a lot of Moseses...of giants whose shoulders we stand on."
But Obama was not alone in staking a claim to hearts of African-American voters in the presidential campaign of 2008. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York addressed an audience at a church nearby, and she was joined here by her husband, former President Bill Clinton – the couple making their first joint campaign appearance since the senator declared her candidacy for the presidency.
Sen. Clinton credited the struggles in Selma and the 1965 Voting Rights Act that resulted with providing new opportunities for women and Hispanics as well as for African Americans – calling the Voting Rights Act "the gift that keeps on giving… It is giving Senator Obama a chance to run for president, (New Mexico Democratic Gov.) Bill Richardson, a Hispanic, a chance to run, and it is giving me a chance," Clinton said. "I know where my chance came from, and I am grateful."
Overflow crowds filled both churches. But even larger crowds followed the former president helping lead a re-enactment of the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" march in Selma that led to the landmark federal legislation guaranteeing minorities the right to vote.
While Obama did not explicitly claim for himself the role of Joshua, that was clearly the implication, coming at the beginning of a campaign to be elected the nation's highest leader. Obama said here: "We've got to remember now that Joshua still has a job to do.''
Obama and Clinton both spoke at a jubilee celebration marking the 42nd anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the march for voting rights that baton-wielding state troopers stopped at Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge. At the time, Alabama and most other Southern states effectively denied blacks the right to vote through discriminatory application of literacy tests, poll taxes and other measures.
Public horror at the images of ferocious police beatings of non-violent marchers led President Lyndon Johnson to propose the Voting Rights Act, which ushered in black political power in the South.
Obama spoke at a service at Brown Chapel AME Church, where the marchers prayed before crossing the bridge. He was joined by Rep. John Lewis (R-Ga.), one of the marchers who was beaten on the bridge, and the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a lieutenant to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Some commentators have argued that Obama's life story – he is the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya who was raised by white grandparents in Hawaii -- gives him a different experience than most American blacks. But he asserted that his ancestors in colonial Africa suffered many of the same humiliations as blacks in the Jim Crow-era South, noting his African grandfather was a houseboy whom even in old age his British employers addressed by his first name, rather than his last.
"Sound familiar?" Obama said, rousing a chorus of affirmations.
He offered his life story as a legacy of the civil rights movement, asserting formative events in his life as touchstones of the movement's achievements: Election to high office, the opportunity to study at prestigious Ivy League universities, and even his birth of a mixed-race marriage.
"There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born," Obama said. "So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Ala. Don't tell me I'm not coming home to Selma, Ala..
Obama was born in 1961, four years before the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. But spokesman Bill Burton said Obama was "speaking metaphorically about the civil rights movement as a whole."
As both Obama and Clinton court the African-American vote, one of the most important constituencies of the Democratic Party, loyalties are divided.
"We love the Clintons, but it's a brand new day," said Freddie Gholston, 55, of Trinity, Ala., who attends the "Bridge Crossing Jubilee" every year. "It's really possible for Obama to become president."
Althea Roy, 67, a lifelong resident of Selma, said of Clinton: "I think she would be good for our people. Her husband was."
Clinton spoke at the First Baptist Church, just two blocks from the Brown Chapel. During voting rights demonstrations in the early 1960s, the Baptist church often served as a meeting place for King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference organizers. After King's assassination, Lowery led the group.
Clinton, drawing upon biblical scriptures and the sermons of King, added that after all the "hard work getting rid of literacy tests and poll taxes, we've got to stay awake because we've got a march to continue." To shouts of approval and applause, she added: "How can we rest while poverty and inequality continue to rise? We all know we have to finish the march. That is the call to our generation."
Following the church services, Clinton and Obama appeared together outside the Brown Chapel for a rally that kicked off the march from the church over the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They praised each other.
"It is excellent that we have a candidate like Barack Obama who embodies what all of you fought for here 42 years ago," Sen. Clinton said. Clinton is "doing an excellent job for this country, and we're going to be marching arm-in-arm," Obama said of his Senate colleague.
When the commemorative march began, Obama linked arms with Lowery, who had led the Selma-to-Montgomery march at the request of King. Clinton joined arms with her husband.
SELMA, Ala. – At a church that served as starting point for a historic civil rights march, Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday positioned his presidential campaign as a part of the long struggle for African-American political representation.
Obama, an Illinois Democrat, declared himself part of a new cohort of black political leaders that he called "the Joshua Generation." It was Joshua, the Biblical successor to Moses, who led the Jewish people to the Promised Land after Moses delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Surrounded on the altar by several veterans of the 1960s freedom marches, some of whom were beaten and bloodied for the cause, Obama said: "We are in the presence today of a lot of Moseses...of giants whose shoulders we stand on."
But Obama was not alone in staking a claim to hearts of African-American voters in the presidential campaign of 2008. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York addressed an audience at a church nearby, and she was joined here by her husband, former President Bill Clinton – the couple making their first joint campaign appearance since the senator declared her candidacy for the presidency.
Sen. Clinton credited the struggles in Selma and the 1965 Voting Rights Act that resulted with providing new opportunities for women and Hispanics as well as for African Americans – calling the Voting Rights Act "the gift that keeps on giving… It is giving Senator Obama a chance to run for president, (New Mexico Democratic Gov.) Bill Richardson, a Hispanic, a chance to run, and it is giving me a chance," Clinton said. "I know where my chance came from, and I am grateful."
Overflow crowds filled both churches. But even larger crowds followed the former president helping lead a re-enactment of the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" march in Selma that led to the landmark federal legislation guaranteeing minorities the right to vote.
While Obama did not explicitly claim for himself the role of Joshua, that was clearly the implication, coming at the beginning of a campaign to be elected the nation's highest leader. Obama said here: "We've got to remember now that Joshua still has a job to do.''
Obama and Clinton both spoke at a jubilee celebration marking the 42nd anniversary of Bloody Sunday, the march for voting rights that baton-wielding state troopers stopped at Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge. At the time, Alabama and most other Southern states effectively denied blacks the right to vote through discriminatory application of literacy tests, poll taxes and other measures.
Public horror at the images of ferocious police beatings of non-violent marchers led President Lyndon Johnson to propose the Voting Rights Act, which ushered in black political power in the South.
Obama spoke at a service at Brown Chapel AME Church, where the marchers prayed before crossing the bridge. He was joined by Rep. John Lewis (R-Ga.), one of the marchers who was beaten on the bridge, and the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a lieutenant to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Some commentators have argued that Obama's life story – he is the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya who was raised by white grandparents in Hawaii -- gives him a different experience than most American blacks. But he asserted that his ancestors in colonial Africa suffered many of the same humiliations as blacks in the Jim Crow-era South, noting his African grandfather was a houseboy whom even in old age his British employers addressed by his first name, rather than his last.
"Sound familiar?" Obama said, rousing a chorus of affirmations.
He offered his life story as a legacy of the civil rights movement, asserting formative events in his life as touchstones of the movement's achievements: Election to high office, the opportunity to study at prestigious Ivy League universities, and even his birth of a mixed-race marriage.
"There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born," Obama said. "So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Ala. Don't tell me I'm not coming home to Selma, Ala..
Obama was born in 1961, four years before the march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. But spokesman Bill Burton said Obama was "speaking metaphorically about the civil rights movement as a whole."
As both Obama and Clinton court the African-American vote, one of the most important constituencies of the Democratic Party, loyalties are divided.
"We love the Clintons, but it's a brand new day," said Freddie Gholston, 55, of Trinity, Ala., who attends the "Bridge Crossing Jubilee" every year. "It's really possible for Obama to become president."
Althea Roy, 67, a lifelong resident of Selma, said of Clinton: "I think she would be good for our people. Her husband was."
Clinton spoke at the First Baptist Church, just two blocks from the Brown Chapel. During voting rights demonstrations in the early 1960s, the Baptist church often served as a meeting place for King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference organizers. After King's assassination, Lowery led the group.
Clinton, drawing upon biblical scriptures and the sermons of King, added that after all the "hard work getting rid of literacy tests and poll taxes, we've got to stay awake because we've got a march to continue." To shouts of approval and applause, she added: "How can we rest while poverty and inequality continue to rise? We all know we have to finish the march. That is the call to our generation."
Following the church services, Clinton and Obama appeared together outside the Brown Chapel for a rally that kicked off the march from the church over the Edmund Pettus Bridge. They praised each other.
"It is excellent that we have a candidate like Barack Obama who embodies what all of you fought for here 42 years ago," Sen. Clinton said. Clinton is "doing an excellent job for this country, and we're going to be marching arm-in-arm," Obama said of his Senate colleague.
When the commemorative march began, Obama linked arms with Lowery, who had led the Selma-to-Montgomery march at the request of King. Clinton joined arms with her husband.
Edwards: Jesus Would Be 'Appalled'
By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer
Monday, March 5, 2007
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards says Jesus would be appalled at how the United States has ignored the plight of the suffering, and that he believes children should have private time to pray at school.
Edwards, in an interview with the Web site Beliefnet.com, said Jesus would be most upset with the selfishness of Americans and the country's willingness to go to war "when it's not necessary."
"I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs," Edwards told the site. "I think he would be appalled, actually."
Edwards also said he was against teacher-led prayers in public schools, but he added that "allowing time for children to pray for themselves, to themselves, I think is not only OK, I think it's a good thing."
In the interview, the former North Carolina senator discussed how he lost touch with his day-to-day faith during college, but that it "came roaring back" after the death of his 16-year-old son, Wade, in 1996.
Edwards has often cited religion as a part of his politics, frequently linking his efforts to fight poverty as a matter of morality.
Edwards was interviewed by David Kuo, a conservative Christian who served as deputy director of President Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives until 2003. Kuo wrote a book, "Tempting Faith, An Inside Story of Political Seduction," that said Bush aides privately called conservative Christians "nuts,""ridiculous" and "goofy."
Edwards told Kuo he stood by a decision to keep two bloggers on his staff despite their provocative writings criticizing the Catholic Church. Edwards said he also found the writing offensive, but "decided to forgive them and stand by them, knowing there would be potential political consequences for that."
The bloggers later quit, saying they didn't want to be a liability to the campaign.
___
WASHINGTON (AP) — A video is worth a thousand words. And dollars, too.
Prominently featured on John Edwards' presidential campaign Web site is a video of conservative commentator Ann Coulter insulting him. And with just a mouse click you can hear the invective and get a chance to donate at the same time.
On Friday, Coulter, a writer and columnist known for provocative remarks, told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington: "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I — so kind of an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards."
The Edwards camp is now seeking to capitalize on the slur by soliciting $100,000 in "Coulter Cash" to "show that inflaming prejudice to attack progressive leaders will only backfire."
Meanwhile, conservatives were none too pleased with Coulter, either. Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said: "Frankly, I would have loved to have heard Ann expose and dissect the radical agenda of Senator Edwards instead of resorting to cheap name calling."
___
ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Monday called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a "madman" and raised the possibility that he could be assassinated by foes within his country.
"Ahmadinejad, the madman, is in competition with mullahs and ayatollahs who think he's overstepped his bounds," Biden told members of a local Kiwanis Club in this early voting state.
Ahmadinejad may be "assassinated, not by the good guys, but by the bad guys," said the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
At a campaign stop Sunday, Biden called Ahmadinejad "that wacko guy, the crazy president," and said he would only be in office for a little more than a year before being "taken out" because he threatened Shia interests.
Last week, Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd told a University of South Carolina audience he endorsed the Bush administration's recent willingness to hold joint talks on Iraq with Syria and Iran. But Dodd, also a presidential hopeful, said the United States needs to avoid talking with Ahmadinejad and called him "a thug."
Biden's campaign on Monday also announced he was endorsed by state Sen. Gerald Malloy and state Rep. Jerry Govan, both members of the Legislative Black Caucus.
___
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg had a slightly different answer on Monday for that same old question he's dismissed over and over: Are you going to run for president?
"I don't think so — and if I was going to do it, I don't think I'd announce it right here," he said during a brief appearance Monday morning on Fox News.
The host noted that the billionaire businessman had a similar answer when asked, years ago, if he planned to run for mayor.
"And then fast forward, here you are," she said.
"You never know," he said.
For the record, just days ago Bloomberg told an audience at Harvard University that he was not, in fact, a presidential candidate.
Ever since the Democrat-turned-Republican won re-election in 2005, there has been some talk of a Bloomberg presidential bid. Most of the talk has been fueled by one of his aides, Kevin Sheekey, who has publicly acknowledged his efforts to cajole his boss into the race.
___
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential contender John Edwards is mailing Iowa caucus voters some 70,000 DVDs that argue he is the only candidate with a health care plan for all Americans.
The Edwards campaign hoped to reach a significant number of Iowa's Democratic caucus voters with the DVD. Slightly more than 100,000 participated in the 2004 caucus.
"What America really wants in their next president is to be able to trust their president," Edwards says in the six-minute video. "In order for that to be true, they want to feel like ... the president is a good and decent and honest human being who's trying to do what's right."
The video and pamphlet specifically address health care problems and statistics in Iowa, where the state's leadoff caucuses will begin the nomination process.
Sen. John Kerry won Iowa in 2004 and went on to earn the party's nomination. Edwards placed second in Iowa and later earned a spot as Kerry's vice presidential nominee.
Edwards has proposed a tax increase to fund a universal health care plan that would cover the estimated 47 million Americans who do not have insurance. The plan would create "health markets," including a government-run plan like Medicare, to create competitive prices. It would also subsidize insurance for low-income Americans and require businesses to help cover the insurance costs of their employees.
___
WASHINGTON (AP) — Judicial Watch, a conservative investigative group that dogged the Clinton presidency, is asking for an investigation of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for filing an incomplete financial disclosure report.
The group filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee and the Justice Department, noting that Clinton had failed to report that she was secretary-treasurer of the Clinton Family Foundation in documents that must be filed annually with the Senate. In the face of an official complaint, Senate rules require the ethics committee to begin a preliminary inquiry.
Clinton amended her disclosure report on Feb. 26 to include her foundation affiliation after The Washington Post reported the omission. Data about the foundation, and Clinton's role in it, also is available from other public records. According to Internal Revenue Service records, the foundation had nearly $1.8 million in income in 2005.
Monday, March 5, 2007
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards says Jesus would be appalled at how the United States has ignored the plight of the suffering, and that he believes children should have private time to pray at school.
Edwards, in an interview with the Web site Beliefnet.com, said Jesus would be most upset with the selfishness of Americans and the country's willingness to go to war "when it's not necessary."
"I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs," Edwards told the site. "I think he would be appalled, actually."
Edwards also said he was against teacher-led prayers in public schools, but he added that "allowing time for children to pray for themselves, to themselves, I think is not only OK, I think it's a good thing."
In the interview, the former North Carolina senator discussed how he lost touch with his day-to-day faith during college, but that it "came roaring back" after the death of his 16-year-old son, Wade, in 1996.
Edwards has often cited religion as a part of his politics, frequently linking his efforts to fight poverty as a matter of morality.
Edwards was interviewed by David Kuo, a conservative Christian who served as deputy director of President Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives until 2003. Kuo wrote a book, "Tempting Faith, An Inside Story of Political Seduction," that said Bush aides privately called conservative Christians "nuts,""ridiculous" and "goofy."
Edwards told Kuo he stood by a decision to keep two bloggers on his staff despite their provocative writings criticizing the Catholic Church. Edwards said he also found the writing offensive, but "decided to forgive them and stand by them, knowing there would be potential political consequences for that."
The bloggers later quit, saying they didn't want to be a liability to the campaign.
___
WASHINGTON (AP) — A video is worth a thousand words. And dollars, too.
Prominently featured on John Edwards' presidential campaign Web site is a video of conservative commentator Ann Coulter insulting him. And with just a mouse click you can hear the invective and get a chance to donate at the same time.
On Friday, Coulter, a writer and columnist known for provocative remarks, told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington: "I was going to have a few comments on the other Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, but it turns out you have to go into rehab if you use the word 'faggot,' so I — so kind of an impasse, can't really talk about Edwards."
The Edwards camp is now seeking to capitalize on the slur by soliciting $100,000 in "Coulter Cash" to "show that inflaming prejudice to attack progressive leaders will only backfire."
Meanwhile, conservatives were none too pleased with Coulter, either. Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said: "Frankly, I would have loved to have heard Ann expose and dissect the radical agenda of Senator Edwards instead of resorting to cheap name calling."
___
ORANGEBURG, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Monday called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a "madman" and raised the possibility that he could be assassinated by foes within his country.
"Ahmadinejad, the madman, is in competition with mullahs and ayatollahs who think he's overstepped his bounds," Biden told members of a local Kiwanis Club in this early voting state.
Ahmadinejad may be "assassinated, not by the good guys, but by the bad guys," said the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
At a campaign stop Sunday, Biden called Ahmadinejad "that wacko guy, the crazy president," and said he would only be in office for a little more than a year before being "taken out" because he threatened Shia interests.
Last week, Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd told a University of South Carolina audience he endorsed the Bush administration's recent willingness to hold joint talks on Iraq with Syria and Iran. But Dodd, also a presidential hopeful, said the United States needs to avoid talking with Ahmadinejad and called him "a thug."
Biden's campaign on Monday also announced he was endorsed by state Sen. Gerald Malloy and state Rep. Jerry Govan, both members of the Legislative Black Caucus.
___
NEW YORK (AP) — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg had a slightly different answer on Monday for that same old question he's dismissed over and over: Are you going to run for president?
"I don't think so — and if I was going to do it, I don't think I'd announce it right here," he said during a brief appearance Monday morning on Fox News.
The host noted that the billionaire businessman had a similar answer when asked, years ago, if he planned to run for mayor.
"And then fast forward, here you are," she said.
"You never know," he said.
For the record, just days ago Bloomberg told an audience at Harvard University that he was not, in fact, a presidential candidate.
Ever since the Democrat-turned-Republican won re-election in 2005, there has been some talk of a Bloomberg presidential bid. Most of the talk has been fueled by one of his aides, Kevin Sheekey, who has publicly acknowledged his efforts to cajole his boss into the race.
___
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential contender John Edwards is mailing Iowa caucus voters some 70,000 DVDs that argue he is the only candidate with a health care plan for all Americans.
The Edwards campaign hoped to reach a significant number of Iowa's Democratic caucus voters with the DVD. Slightly more than 100,000 participated in the 2004 caucus.
"What America really wants in their next president is to be able to trust their president," Edwards says in the six-minute video. "In order for that to be true, they want to feel like ... the president is a good and decent and honest human being who's trying to do what's right."
The video and pamphlet specifically address health care problems and statistics in Iowa, where the state's leadoff caucuses will begin the nomination process.
Sen. John Kerry won Iowa in 2004 and went on to earn the party's nomination. Edwards placed second in Iowa and later earned a spot as Kerry's vice presidential nominee.
Edwards has proposed a tax increase to fund a universal health care plan that would cover the estimated 47 million Americans who do not have insurance. The plan would create "health markets," including a government-run plan like Medicare, to create competitive prices. It would also subsidize insurance for low-income Americans and require businesses to help cover the insurance costs of their employees.
___
WASHINGTON (AP) — Judicial Watch, a conservative investigative group that dogged the Clinton presidency, is asking for an investigation of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for filing an incomplete financial disclosure report.
The group filed a complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee and the Justice Department, noting that Clinton had failed to report that she was secretary-treasurer of the Clinton Family Foundation in documents that must be filed annually with the Senate. In the face of an official complaint, Senate rules require the ethics committee to begin a preliminary inquiry.
Clinton amended her disclosure report on Feb. 26 to include her foundation affiliation after The Washington Post reported the omission. Data about the foundation, and Clinton's role in it, also is available from other public records. According to Internal Revenue Service records, the foundation had nearly $1.8 million in income in 2005.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Clintons, Obama Honor Activists in Selma
Clintons, Obama Pay Homage to Civil Rights Activists, Crossing Campaign Paths in Selma, Ala.
By NEDRA PICKLER
SELMA, Ala. Mar 4, 2007 (AP)— Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton crossed campaign paths for the first time Sunday as they paid homage to civil rights activists who they said helped give them the chance to break barriers to the White House.
The two candidates and former President Clinton, making his first appearance with his wife since her campaign began, linked arms with activists who 42 years ago were attacked by police with billyclubs during a peaceful voting rights march. "Bloody Sunday" shocked the nation and helped bring attention to the racist voting practices that kept blacks from the polls.
"I'm here because somebody marched for our freedom," Obama, who would become the first black president, said from the Brown Chapel AME Church where the march began on March 7, 1965. "I'm here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants."
Not to be outdone in the hunt for black votes, Hillary Clinton also spoke in Selma at a church three blocks away and brought a secret weapon her husband. Three days before the march anniversary, her campaign announced that the former president who is so popular among blacks would accompany her for his induction into Selma's Voting Rights Hall of Fame.
Sen. Clinton said the Voting Rights Act and the Selma march made possible her presidential campaign, as well as those of Obama and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who would be the first Hispanic to occupy the Oval Office.
"After all the hard work getting rid of literacy tests and poll taxes, we've got to stay awake because we've got a march to continue," Clinton said in a speech interrupted numerous times by applause and shouts of approval. "How can we rest while poverty and inequality continue to rise?"
Clinton and Obama both appeared outside Brown Chapel for a pre-march rally, but came from opposite sides of the podium and did not interact. Despite the intense rivalry between their campaigns, the two praised each other.
"It's excellent that we have a candidate like Barack Obama who embodies what all of you fought for here 42 years ago," Clinton said. Obama said Clinton is "doing an excellent job for this country and we're going to be marching arm-in-arm."
But they did not join arms when the commemorative march attended by thousands got under way. Instead, Clinton held hands with her husband and Obama was several people down the line. Obama, who shed his coat and tie for the march, approached Hillary Clinton at one point and the two chatted for a few seconds before moving back to opposite sides of the street.
The two candidates sounded similar themes in their speeches. Both said the civil rights movement is not over because inequality still exists in education, health care and the economy. Both criticized the Bush administration for failing to return Hurricane Katrina victims to their homes.
But Obama, who was three years old on Bloody Sunday, delivered a call to action that would be politically unfeasible for Clinton or any of his other white rivals. He said the current generation of blacks does not always honor the civil rights movement and needs to take responsibility for improving their lives by rejecting violence; cleaning up "40-ounce bottles" and other trash that litters urban neighborhoods; and voting instead of complaining that the government is not helping them.
"How can it be that our voting rates dropped down to 30, 40, 50 percent when people shed their blood to allow us to vote?" Obama asked at a unity breakfast with community leaders.
At the breakfast, Obama got a key to the city and another to surrounding Dallas County from a probate judge, Kim Ballard. "Forty-two years ago he might would have needed it because I understand it would open the jail cells," Ballard said. "But not today."
Obama said the fight for civil rights reverberated across the globe and inspired his father to aspire to something beyond his job herding goats in Kenya. His father moved to Hawaii to get an education under a program for African students and met Obama's mother, a fellow student from Kansas.
Obama said he was not surprised when it was reported this week that his white ancestors on his mother's side owned slaves. "That's no surprise in America," he said and added that the civil rights struggle made it possible for such a diverse couple to fall in love.
"If it hasn't been for Selma, I wouldn't be here," Obama said. "This is the site of my conception. I am the fruits of your labor. I am the offspring of the movement. When people ask me whether I've been to Selma before, I tell them I'm coming home."
But the former president stole the show from the two candidates. The audience cheered loudest for him when the three took the stage at the end of the march and the crowd mobbed him as he tried to make it to his limousine, delaying his departure.
Speaking at his induction, Clinton said the 2008 campaign features "a rainbow coalition running for president."
"If it hadn't been for the Voting Rights Act, the South would have never recovered and two white southerners Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton never could have become president," Clinton said.
Other Democratic candidates are not leaving the black vote to Obama and Clinton. John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee, was speaking about Selma and civil rights at the University of California, Berkeley.
"The fight for civil rights and equal rights and economic and social justice is more than just going to celebrations, even as wonderful as the one in Selma," Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery as he referred to Berkeley janitors' fight for a wage increase. "The fight is going on right here, right now."
Associated Press writers Phillip Rawls and Bob Johnson contributed to this report.
By NEDRA PICKLER
SELMA, Ala. Mar 4, 2007 (AP)— Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton crossed campaign paths for the first time Sunday as they paid homage to civil rights activists who they said helped give them the chance to break barriers to the White House.
The two candidates and former President Clinton, making his first appearance with his wife since her campaign began, linked arms with activists who 42 years ago were attacked by police with billyclubs during a peaceful voting rights march. "Bloody Sunday" shocked the nation and helped bring attention to the racist voting practices that kept blacks from the polls.
"I'm here because somebody marched for our freedom," Obama, who would become the first black president, said from the Brown Chapel AME Church where the march began on March 7, 1965. "I'm here because you all sacrificed for me. I stand on the shoulders of giants."
Not to be outdone in the hunt for black votes, Hillary Clinton also spoke in Selma at a church three blocks away and brought a secret weapon her husband. Three days before the march anniversary, her campaign announced that the former president who is so popular among blacks would accompany her for his induction into Selma's Voting Rights Hall of Fame.
Sen. Clinton said the Voting Rights Act and the Selma march made possible her presidential campaign, as well as those of Obama and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who would be the first Hispanic to occupy the Oval Office.
"After all the hard work getting rid of literacy tests and poll taxes, we've got to stay awake because we've got a march to continue," Clinton said in a speech interrupted numerous times by applause and shouts of approval. "How can we rest while poverty and inequality continue to rise?"
Clinton and Obama both appeared outside Brown Chapel for a pre-march rally, but came from opposite sides of the podium and did not interact. Despite the intense rivalry between their campaigns, the two praised each other.
"It's excellent that we have a candidate like Barack Obama who embodies what all of you fought for here 42 years ago," Clinton said. Obama said Clinton is "doing an excellent job for this country and we're going to be marching arm-in-arm."
But they did not join arms when the commemorative march attended by thousands got under way. Instead, Clinton held hands with her husband and Obama was several people down the line. Obama, who shed his coat and tie for the march, approached Hillary Clinton at one point and the two chatted for a few seconds before moving back to opposite sides of the street.
The two candidates sounded similar themes in their speeches. Both said the civil rights movement is not over because inequality still exists in education, health care and the economy. Both criticized the Bush administration for failing to return Hurricane Katrina victims to their homes.
But Obama, who was three years old on Bloody Sunday, delivered a call to action that would be politically unfeasible for Clinton or any of his other white rivals. He said the current generation of blacks does not always honor the civil rights movement and needs to take responsibility for improving their lives by rejecting violence; cleaning up "40-ounce bottles" and other trash that litters urban neighborhoods; and voting instead of complaining that the government is not helping them.
"How can it be that our voting rates dropped down to 30, 40, 50 percent when people shed their blood to allow us to vote?" Obama asked at a unity breakfast with community leaders.
At the breakfast, Obama got a key to the city and another to surrounding Dallas County from a probate judge, Kim Ballard. "Forty-two years ago he might would have needed it because I understand it would open the jail cells," Ballard said. "But not today."
Obama said the fight for civil rights reverberated across the globe and inspired his father to aspire to something beyond his job herding goats in Kenya. His father moved to Hawaii to get an education under a program for African students and met Obama's mother, a fellow student from Kansas.
Obama said he was not surprised when it was reported this week that his white ancestors on his mother's side owned slaves. "That's no surprise in America," he said and added that the civil rights struggle made it possible for such a diverse couple to fall in love.
"If it hasn't been for Selma, I wouldn't be here," Obama said. "This is the site of my conception. I am the fruits of your labor. I am the offspring of the movement. When people ask me whether I've been to Selma before, I tell them I'm coming home."
But the former president stole the show from the two candidates. The audience cheered loudest for him when the three took the stage at the end of the march and the crowd mobbed him as he tried to make it to his limousine, delaying his departure.
Speaking at his induction, Clinton said the 2008 campaign features "a rainbow coalition running for president."
"If it hadn't been for the Voting Rights Act, the South would have never recovered and two white southerners Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton never could have become president," Clinton said.
Other Democratic candidates are not leaving the black vote to Obama and Clinton. John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee, was speaking about Selma and civil rights at the University of California, Berkeley.
"The fight for civil rights and equal rights and economic and social justice is more than just going to celebrations, even as wonderful as the one in Selma," Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery as he referred to Berkeley janitors' fight for a wage increase. "The fight is going on right here, right now."
Associated Press writers Phillip Rawls and Bob Johnson contributed to this report.
Friday, March 2, 2007
"(AP) Bill Clinton to Join Wife in Alabama"
By BETH FOUHY
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK
In competition for a key Democratic voting bloc, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is enlisting the help of her husband, former President Clinton, at a weekend civil rights commemoration headlined by a formidable black rival, Sen. Barack Obama.
Clinton and Obama, the party's top 2008 presidential contenders, will be in Selma, Ala., Sunday to observe the 42nd anniversary of a civil rights march that helped end racial segregation in the South. Obama is scheduled to deliver the day's keynote address at a Selma church that morning, with Sen. Clinton speaking at another church nearby.
But late Thursday, the Clinton campaign announced that the former president would join his wife in a symbolic march across the Edmund Pettus bridge, where civil rights workers were beaten by state troopers in 1965. Obama also will participate in the march, along with civil rights activists and others.
Bill Clinton also will be inducted that day in the National Voting Rights Hall of Fame _ another high-profile opportunity for the Clintons to grab the spotlight from the...
...charismatic Obama.
The joint appearance marks the first time the Clintons have appeared together publicly since she announced her candidacy in January.
Normally, Clinton might not worry much about the support of black voters after serving eight years as first lady in a White House that enjoyed legendary popularity among blacks. Bill Clinton was dubbed "the first black president" by author Toni Morrison, and Hillary Clinton has enjoyed strong support from black voters _ a critical Democratic constituency _ as a senator and presidential contender.
But that popularity is being challenged by Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois who some believe has a real chance at becoming the nation's first black president.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the more people who attend the anniversary events, the better.
Copyright 2007 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK
In competition for a key Democratic voting bloc, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is enlisting the help of her husband, former President Clinton, at a weekend civil rights commemoration headlined by a formidable black rival, Sen. Barack Obama.
Clinton and Obama, the party's top 2008 presidential contenders, will be in Selma, Ala., Sunday to observe the 42nd anniversary of a civil rights march that helped end racial segregation in the South. Obama is scheduled to deliver the day's keynote address at a Selma church that morning, with Sen. Clinton speaking at another church nearby.
But late Thursday, the Clinton campaign announced that the former president would join his wife in a symbolic march across the Edmund Pettus bridge, where civil rights workers were beaten by state troopers in 1965. Obama also will participate in the march, along with civil rights activists and others.
Bill Clinton also will be inducted that day in the National Voting Rights Hall of Fame _ another high-profile opportunity for the Clintons to grab the spotlight from the...
...charismatic Obama.
The joint appearance marks the first time the Clintons have appeared together publicly since she announced her candidacy in January.
Normally, Clinton might not worry much about the support of black voters after serving eight years as first lady in a White House that enjoyed legendary popularity among blacks. Bill Clinton was dubbed "the first black president" by author Toni Morrison, and Hillary Clinton has enjoyed strong support from black voters _ a critical Democratic constituency _ as a senator and presidential contender.
But that popularity is being challenged by Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois who some believe has a real chance at becoming the nation's first black president.
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the more people who attend the anniversary events, the better.
Copyright 2007 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Likely U.S. presidential candidates in 2008
(Reuters) - Here are the declared U.S. presidential candidates for the Republican and Democratic Party nominations for the 2008 election.
In alphabetical order:
DEMOCRATS:
Announced candidates:
Joseph Biden, U.S. senator from Delaware and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. senator from New York and former first lady.
Chris Dodd, U.S. senator from Connecticut.
John Edwards, former U.S. senator from North Carolina and the vice presidential nominee in 2004.
Mike Gravel, former U.S. senator from Alaska
Dennis Kucinich, U.S. representative from Ohio and 2004 presidential candidate.
Barack Obama, U.S. senator from Illinois.
Bill Richardson, New Mexico governor.
Declared candidates who dropped out:
Evan Bayh, U.S. senator from Indiana.
Tom Vilsack, former Iowa governor.
REPUBLICANS:
Announced candidates:
Sam Brownback, U.S. senator from Kansas.
James Gilmore, former Virginia governor.
Rudolph Giuliani, former New York mayor.
Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor.
Duncan Hunter, U.S. representative from California.
John McCain, U.S. senator from Arizona and 2000 presidential candidate.
Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor.
Tom Tancredo, U.S. representative from Colorado.
Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor.
Declared candidates who dropped out:
None
In alphabetical order:
DEMOCRATS:
Announced candidates:
Joseph Biden, U.S. senator from Delaware and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. senator from New York and former first lady.
Chris Dodd, U.S. senator from Connecticut.
John Edwards, former U.S. senator from North Carolina and the vice presidential nominee in 2004.
Mike Gravel, former U.S. senator from Alaska
Dennis Kucinich, U.S. representative from Ohio and 2004 presidential candidate.
Barack Obama, U.S. senator from Illinois.
Bill Richardson, New Mexico governor.
Declared candidates who dropped out:
Evan Bayh, U.S. senator from Indiana.
Tom Vilsack, former Iowa governor.
REPUBLICANS:
Announced candidates:
Sam Brownback, U.S. senator from Kansas.
James Gilmore, former Virginia governor.
Rudolph Giuliani, former New York mayor.
Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor.
Duncan Hunter, U.S. representative from California.
John McCain, U.S. senator from Arizona and 2000 presidential candidate.
Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor.
Tom Tancredo, U.S. representative from Colorado.
Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor.
Declared candidates who dropped out:
None
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
McCain to Formally Announce Bid in April
Republican Sen. John McCain to Officially Enter 2008 Presidential Race in Early April
By LIZ SIDOTI
WASHINGTON Feb 28, 2007 (AP)— Republican Sen. John McCain will officially enter the presidential race his second run after a bitter loss to George W. Bush in 2000 with a formal announcement in early April.
The Arizona senator disclosed the timing of the long-expected announcement in a taping for the "Late Show With David Letterman" on CBS for airing Wednesday night.
"I am announcing that I will be a candidate for president of the United States," the senator told the talk show host and then added he would give a formal speech to that effect in early April.
There was no doubt that McCain would eventually become a full-fledged White House candidate, and he had been expected to make his candidacy official in the spring.
The 2006 midterm campaign had just ended when McCain took the first formal step toward a presidential run in November. He formed an exploratory committee and gave a speech casting himself as a "common-sense conservative" in the vein of Ronald Reagan who could lead the party back to dominance after a dreadful election season by returning to the GOP's core principles.
A political celebrity, McCain is considered a top contender for the nomination.
However, he faces strong challenges from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has widened his lead over McCain in popularity polls in recent weeks, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is little-known nationally but is drawing notice for his deft fundraising.
The other two have spent the past two months mostly campaigning while McCain largely has been tied to Capitol Hill in his role as the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is focused largely on the unpopular Iraq war.
McCain, a former Navy pilot who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has emerged as the Senate's go-to guy on Iraq. He has become President Bush's most outspoken supporter of sending 21,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, a position that could endear him to GOP primary voters but anger much of the rest of the electorate.
By LIZ SIDOTI
WASHINGTON Feb 28, 2007 (AP)— Republican Sen. John McCain will officially enter the presidential race his second run after a bitter loss to George W. Bush in 2000 with a formal announcement in early April.
The Arizona senator disclosed the timing of the long-expected announcement in a taping for the "Late Show With David Letterman" on CBS for airing Wednesday night.
"I am announcing that I will be a candidate for president of the United States," the senator told the talk show host and then added he would give a formal speech to that effect in early April.
There was no doubt that McCain would eventually become a full-fledged White House candidate, and he had been expected to make his candidacy official in the spring.
The 2006 midterm campaign had just ended when McCain took the first formal step toward a presidential run in November. He formed an exploratory committee and gave a speech casting himself as a "common-sense conservative" in the vein of Ronald Reagan who could lead the party back to dominance after a dreadful election season by returning to the GOP's core principles.
A political celebrity, McCain is considered a top contender for the nomination.
However, he faces strong challenges from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has widened his lead over McCain in popularity polls in recent weeks, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is little-known nationally but is drawing notice for his deft fundraising.
The other two have spent the past two months mostly campaigning while McCain largely has been tied to Capitol Hill in his role as the highest-ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which is focused largely on the unpopular Iraq war.
McCain, a former Navy pilot who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, has emerged as the Senate's go-to guy on Iraq. He has become President Bush's most outspoken supporter of sending 21,500 additional U.S. troops to Iraq, a position that could endear him to GOP primary voters but anger much of the rest of the electorate.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
What Mitt's Got That Bush Lacks: Intelligence
The Nation -- A blueprint for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign pays close attention to the question of how the former Massachusetts could distinguish himself from an increasingly unpopular President Bush. The Republican strategists who prepared the plan suggest that the best way to differentiate their man from Bush is to focus on the fact that Romney is, uh, smart.
"Like every Republican in the race, Romney faces the delicate task of how to talk about President Bush, whom the country gives low job-approval ratings," reports the Boston Globe, which obtained the blueprint. "But the plan lists two ways Romney can set himself apart from Bush. The first says, simply, 'Intelligence.'"
The document also outlines schemes for "positively branding" Romney while "negatively framing rivals John McCain (news, bio, voting record) and Rudy Giuliani," according to the Globe, which obtained the plan that had been prepared in secret by the Romney campaign's media adviser, Alex Castellanos, and others.
The blueprint also suggests that Romney run against "bogeymen" such as "France" -- there's even a proposal for a "First, Not France" bumper sticker -- and "Massachusetts."
"Like every Republican in the race, Romney faces the delicate task of how to talk about President Bush, whom the country gives low job-approval ratings," reports the Boston Globe, which obtained the blueprint. "But the plan lists two ways Romney can set himself apart from Bush. The first says, simply, 'Intelligence.'"
The document also outlines schemes for "positively branding" Romney while "negatively framing rivals John McCain (news, bio, voting record) and Rudy Giuliani," according to the Globe, which obtained the plan that had been prepared in secret by the Romney campaign's media adviser, Alex Castellanos, and others.
The blueprint also suggests that Romney run against "bogeymen" such as "France" -- there's even a proposal for a "First, Not France" bumper sticker -- and "Massachusetts."
Hunter's campaign ads may violate campaign laws
MANCHESTER, N.H. – Republican presidential candidate Duncan Hunter,
a California Congressman, has used his political action committee to run New Hampshire TV ads introducing himself to voters -- in what some
specialists say could be a violation of campaign finance laws.
In the ads, Hunter walks beside a giant wire fence and calls for it
to be extended along hundreds of miles of the US border with Mexico.
Looking into the camera he asks for viewers to "join with me, Duncan
Hunter, at Peace Through Strength. Let's make sure Homeland Security builds the border fence."
At the end of the ad, viewers are encouraged to visit the PAC's
website, peacethroughstrengthpac.com. If viewers to go to the site a page appears asking them to "please visit Duncan Hunter for President 2008" and providing the link to his homepage, a move that implies the PAC's endorsement, another potential violation of federal law.
Campaign-finance laws limit the use of PACs, which have much higher
limits on individual donations than those imposed on presidential
campaigns, to no more than $5,000 in spending on any presidential
candidacy.
But in New Hampshire alone, Hunter's Peace Through Strength PAC made
two separate ad buys on WMUR-TV in Manchester totaling $17,575. Both
purchases were made after Hunter opened his presidential committee, which is supposed to cover the costs of his run for the White House.
"He is in some pretty dangerous [legal] territory," said Jan Witold Baran, a noted campaign law lawyer who served as general counsel to the Republican National Committee and to President George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign.
Hunter's campaign spokesman, Roy Tyler, said the PAC-finaned ad is simply an "issue ad" and does not promote Hunter's presidential campaign.
He said the campaign's lawyers approved the decision to run the spot.
"We believe they are just issue ads and as such we can run them where
we want as often as we want," said Tyler, noting that Hunter does not
identify himself as a presidential candidate.
Among those Tyler said he asked was Michelle Kelley, an election
lawyer who serves as the PAC's treasurer. Kelley declined to comment for this story.
Politicians considering presidential races often have used political
action committees to pay for travel to early primary states, hire early staff, and build support by contributing money to people running for state or local offices. But once a candidate forms a presidential committees -- as Hunter has -- he is required to use campaign-committee accounts for all money spent running for office.
The advantage of using a PAC is that donors can contribute up to $5,000 per person a year versus a campaign account where donors are limited to just $2,300 per person per election cycle.
"I don't think [Hunter's use of both committees] is a loophole -- it
might be an outright violation," said Dr. Stephen Weissman, Associate
Director for Policy at the Campaign Finance Institute in Washington.
The Federal Election Commission has the jurisdiction to enforce
violations of campaign law. It fined the 1980 campaign of former President Ronald Reagan for using a political action committee to defray some of its expenses.
Hunter, the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is a self-described "longshot" for the Republican presidential nomination. But campaign-finance specialists said that if he gets away with using PAC money for ads promoting himself then such expenditures will soon become routine, with candidates using PACS to bypass limits on funding presidential campaigns.
"If the FEC doesn't enforce this and do it in an airtight way then
others will surely exploit it," said Ray La Raja, a political science
professor at University of Massachusetts at Amherst who has written
extensively on the issue
Posted by James Pindell at 06:05 PM
a California Congressman, has used his political action committee to run New Hampshire TV ads introducing himself to voters -- in what some
specialists say could be a violation of campaign finance laws.
In the ads, Hunter walks beside a giant wire fence and calls for it
to be extended along hundreds of miles of the US border with Mexico.
Looking into the camera he asks for viewers to "join with me, Duncan
Hunter, at Peace Through Strength. Let's make sure Homeland Security builds the border fence."
At the end of the ad, viewers are encouraged to visit the PAC's
website, peacethroughstrengthpac.com. If viewers to go to the site a page appears asking them to "please visit Duncan Hunter for President 2008" and providing the link to his homepage, a move that implies the PAC's endorsement, another potential violation of federal law.
Campaign-finance laws limit the use of PACs, which have much higher
limits on individual donations than those imposed on presidential
campaigns, to no more than $5,000 in spending on any presidential
candidacy.
But in New Hampshire alone, Hunter's Peace Through Strength PAC made
two separate ad buys on WMUR-TV in Manchester totaling $17,575. Both
purchases were made after Hunter opened his presidential committee, which is supposed to cover the costs of his run for the White House.
"He is in some pretty dangerous [legal] territory," said Jan Witold Baran, a noted campaign law lawyer who served as general counsel to the Republican National Committee and to President George H.W. Bush's 1988 presidential campaign.
Hunter's campaign spokesman, Roy Tyler, said the PAC-finaned ad is simply an "issue ad" and does not promote Hunter's presidential campaign.
He said the campaign's lawyers approved the decision to run the spot.
"We believe they are just issue ads and as such we can run them where
we want as often as we want," said Tyler, noting that Hunter does not
identify himself as a presidential candidate.
Among those Tyler said he asked was Michelle Kelley, an election
lawyer who serves as the PAC's treasurer. Kelley declined to comment for this story.
Politicians considering presidential races often have used political
action committees to pay for travel to early primary states, hire early staff, and build support by contributing money to people running for state or local offices. But once a candidate forms a presidential committees -- as Hunter has -- he is required to use campaign-committee accounts for all money spent running for office.
The advantage of using a PAC is that donors can contribute up to $5,000 per person a year versus a campaign account where donors are limited to just $2,300 per person per election cycle.
"I don't think [Hunter's use of both committees] is a loophole -- it
might be an outright violation," said Dr. Stephen Weissman, Associate
Director for Policy at the Campaign Finance Institute in Washington.
The Federal Election Commission has the jurisdiction to enforce
violations of campaign law. It fined the 1980 campaign of former President Ronald Reagan for using a political action committee to defray some of its expenses.
Hunter, the former chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, is a self-described "longshot" for the Republican presidential nomination. But campaign-finance specialists said that if he gets away with using PAC money for ads promoting himself then such expenditures will soon become routine, with candidates using PACS to bypass limits on funding presidential campaigns.
"If the FEC doesn't enforce this and do it in an airtight way then
others will surely exploit it," said Ray La Raja, a political science
professor at University of Massachusetts at Amherst who has written
extensively on the issue
Posted by James Pindell at 06:05 PM
GOP Insiders Say 2008 Nomination Is Up For Grabs
February 27, 2007 | 4:02 PM
U.S. News White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh gives us this item on what senior GOP insiders think of the field of 2008 presidential hopefuls:
Republican insiders are updating their assessment of the strengths and weakness of their presidential front runners. Their verdict: No one has a lock on the nomination and the campaign could last well into next year.
"Rudy Giuliani has had a really good couple of weeks," says a senior GOP strategist with close ties to the White House. The former New York mayor is proving himself a charismatic campaigner, very smart, and fully aware that he needs to address the concerns of conservatives that he is too liberal on social issues such as abortion, gay rights, and gun control. His answer: He would appoint conservative judges to the bench, including the Supreme Court, and won't let his liberal views interfere with that overriding objective.
This is proving to be an effective message to conservative activists, the insiders say, but these activists need further reassurance that Giuliani isn't too liberal.
And Giuliani still can't count on winning the Iowa and Nevada caucuses or the primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina--the first battlegrounds for the GOP nomination early next year. But if he can hold on until the mega-primaries shortly after that, including those tentatively planned for California, Florida, and other big states where his social views are more popular, he can reinforce his charisma with a barrage of TV ads and could go on to win the nomination.
John McCain, who trails Giuliani in some national polls, is still mistrusted in conservative circles for breaking with conservative orthodoxy on tax increases, campaign reform, and other issues. But he still benefits from a strong following among moderates and independents, and he seems to be more energetic and enthusiastic on the campaign trail than he was a few weeks ago. This is easing the concerns of some who had wondered if, at age 70, he was losing some of his fire.
Conservatives are also impressed by McCain's support of President Bush's surge of 21,500 troops into Iraq, which remains popular among many Republicans. This is reminding Republican voters of McCain's reputation as a principled leader who sticks to his guns despite adversity and someone who would be a strong general-election candidate.
Mitt Romney is doing well on the road but remains a questionable commodity among conservatives because he has changed his views on abortion and gay rights. Many GOP insiders think an image of flip-flopping would be devastating in the general-election campaign, as it was for Democrat John Kerry in 2004.
"It's wide open but no one has broken away from the pack, and it's doubtful that anyone will until early next year," says a prominent GOP strategist.
U.S. News White House Correspondent Kenneth T. Walsh gives us this item on what senior GOP insiders think of the field of 2008 presidential hopefuls:
Republican insiders are updating their assessment of the strengths and weakness of their presidential front runners. Their verdict: No one has a lock on the nomination and the campaign could last well into next year.
"Rudy Giuliani has had a really good couple of weeks," says a senior GOP strategist with close ties to the White House. The former New York mayor is proving himself a charismatic campaigner, very smart, and fully aware that he needs to address the concerns of conservatives that he is too liberal on social issues such as abortion, gay rights, and gun control. His answer: He would appoint conservative judges to the bench, including the Supreme Court, and won't let his liberal views interfere with that overriding objective.
This is proving to be an effective message to conservative activists, the insiders say, but these activists need further reassurance that Giuliani isn't too liberal.
And Giuliani still can't count on winning the Iowa and Nevada caucuses or the primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina--the first battlegrounds for the GOP nomination early next year. But if he can hold on until the mega-primaries shortly after that, including those tentatively planned for California, Florida, and other big states where his social views are more popular, he can reinforce his charisma with a barrage of TV ads and could go on to win the nomination.
John McCain, who trails Giuliani in some national polls, is still mistrusted in conservative circles for breaking with conservative orthodoxy on tax increases, campaign reform, and other issues. But he still benefits from a strong following among moderates and independents, and he seems to be more energetic and enthusiastic on the campaign trail than he was a few weeks ago. This is easing the concerns of some who had wondered if, at age 70, he was losing some of his fire.
Conservatives are also impressed by McCain's support of President Bush's surge of 21,500 troops into Iraq, which remains popular among many Republicans. This is reminding Republican voters of McCain's reputation as a principled leader who sticks to his guns despite adversity and someone who would be a strong general-election candidate.
Mitt Romney is doing well on the road but remains a questionable commodity among conservatives because he has changed his views on abortion and gay rights. Many GOP insiders think an image of flip-flopping would be devastating in the general-election campaign, as it was for Democrat John Kerry in 2004.
"It's wide open but no one has broken away from the pack, and it's doubtful that anyone will until early next year," says a prominent GOP strategist.
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