Wed, March 05, 2008 - 6:39 AM

One down, one to go. Mini Super Tuesday delivered a Republican presidential nominee. Big surprise, it's John McCain. Bye-bye, Preacher Huckabee.

Democrats aren't there yet, no matter what Hillary Clinton says about going all the way. She definitely got the biggest bragging rights Tuesday by shattering Barack Obama's winning streak. By winning Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island, Clinton earned her place in the race. As Bill Clinton had said, she needed to win Texas and Ohio to stay in the race, and that's what she did. Her critics will have to stop hammering nails into her political coffin. It's worth noting that she did so by blasting Obama as unready to lead in a crisis or to be commander in chief.

Obama is far from conceding defeat. And it's not just because he won Vermont. The delegates are still being counted in Texas' odd two-step primary and caucus. Obama hopes that he'll fare better than expected in the Texas caucuses -- and win a big chunk of delegates to keep him in the lead.

What we do know is that McCain is now in the catbird seat. He has eight months to campaign single-mindedly against the Democrats while they throw mud at each other. McCain starts today with a visit to the White House where he'll eat lunch with President Bush -- and check out the digs? -- and pick up the presidential endorsement. The two will meet with reporters in the Rose Garden event in the early afternoon.

Next stop for the Democrats: Mississippi next Tuesday.

-- Marsha Mercer

Mon, March 03, 2008 - 2:35 PM

Florida and Michigan might not have a say in the Democratic presidential primary.

But the Canadian government apparently is regretting saying too much.

It has just responded to Hillary Clinton’s claims about alleged signals from the Obama camp to Canadian diplomats that could cast doubt on whether the Illinois senator's public opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement is genuine.

Here is the statement by the Canadian government:

“The Canadian Embassy and our Consulates General regularly contact those involved in all of the Presidential campaigns and, periodically, report on these contacts to interested officials. In the recent report produced by the Consulate General in Chicago, there was no intention to convey, in any way, that Senator Obama and his campaign team were taking a different position in public from views expressed in private, including about NAFTA.”
“We deeply regret any inference that may have been drawn to that effect,” the statement says.

At issue is an internal Canadian memo that the Associated Press has described as written by a diplomat regarding a meeting last month between Austan Goulsbee, Obama’s economic adviser, and George Rioux, the Canadian consul general in Chicago.

According to the AP, the memo said Goulsbee told Rioux that Obama’s campaign remarks about NAFTA “should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans.”

Hillary Clinton -- fighting to hold a slim lead in Ohio – has seized on the Canadian memo to criticize Obama for giving speeches “that are very critical of NAFTA … and then we find out that your chief economic adviser has gone to a foreign government and basically done the old wink-wink – ‘Don’t pay attention, this is just political rhetoric’ – I think that raises serious questions.

But the Obama camp has repeatedly denied the campaign has sent Canada conflicting signals on the candidate’s views on trade.

And now, the Canadian government is saying its consulate general did not intend to produce a memo conveying that idea.

-- Billy House

It is the smallest state in the country, and it’s certainly no Ohio or Texas in Tuesday’s primary contest, but Rhode Island’s 21 delegates could still help decide who will be the Democratic presidential nominee.

In a race where the delegate count is so close, Rhode Island matters, said Tim Grillo, executive director of the state Democratic Party.

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both visited the state this past week, sent their spouses, and in Clinton’s case, her daughter.

“We’ve been getting a lot of attention,” Grillo said, mentioning neighboring Boston Mayor Thomas Menino was walking Federal Hill for Clinton today. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts has campaigned for Obama.

“Everybody’s prepared to – like all good Democrats – support the Democratic nominee,” Grillo said.

Texas and Ohio have 193 and 141 delegates to the Democratic convention. But Rhode Island is not the smallest prize of the March 4 contests. Nearby Vermont has just 15 delegates.

--Neil Simon

To Ohio Democrats, having seen both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama become nearly permanent fixtures in their state, this year’s primary has been very different than what they’re used to.

“It’s been the center of attention,” Democratic Party spokesman Alex Goepfert said. “That’s the level of attention Ohio’s used to in the general election, not the primary.”

One in three Ohio voters participated in the state’s last presidential primary election.

This year, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner predicts more than half the registered voters will participate.

Goepfert called the last few weeks “exciting and energizing” for the party. After all, volunteers and voters are getting organized at a time when they would not be otherwise.

Still, numerous party leaders have been public with their wishes to bring the drawn-out primary process to a close so Democrats can start to rally behind one nominee.

--Neil Simon

Fri, February 29, 2008 - 4:25 PM

Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., and an estimated 1,200 of his closest friends kicked off his reelection campaign this morning with a $100 per plate breakfast featuring special guest Lynne Cheney at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.

“It always helps to have a real star for a speaker and that she is,” said Cantor, whose annual campaign breakfast has included former House speaker Dennis Hastert and Republican leader John Boehner in the past.

Cheney, the wife of Vice President Dick Cheney, talked about tax cuts and the war on terror at what Cantor says is among his biggest fundraisers of the year.

“I just think she’s an incredible woman and has accomplished so much in her own right besides being married to the vice president,” said Cantor.

Cantor, a member of the House Republican leadership team, raised nearly $1.7 million in 2007 and $555,271 on hand at year-end, according to Federal Election Commission records.

--Neil Simon

It’s 3 a.m. Do you know where your children are?

Hillary Clinton might. Or at least her new campaign ad makes it seem that way.

The ad shows a mother checking on her peacefully sleeping children, while a voiceover reminiscent of the creepy voice in the movie “Scream” says:

“It’s 3 a.m. and your children are safe and asleep. But there’s a phone in the White House that’s ringing. Something’s happening in the world. Your vote decides who answers that call.”

The creepy voice goes on to extol the virtues of a tested leader ready to lead in a “dangerous world.”

The screen flashes from worried mother to Clinton, talking on the phone. Apparently, Clinton is up 24 hours a day or she sleeps in those famous pants suits.



Today, Barack Obama said Clinton was trying to ``scare up votes'' with the ad.

``We've had a red phone moment,” he said. “It was the decision to invade Iraq. And Senator Clinton gave the wrong answer.''

-- Amy Dominello

Wed, February 27, 2008 - 5:03 PM

Georgia Rep. John Lewis, a superdelegate, has had a change of heart.

The Hillary Clinton supporter will now cast his supervote for Barack Obama.

Read about it here.

-- Amy Dominello

Tue, February 26, 2008 - 10:26 PM

10:34 p.m.
A handshake, an Obama pat on Clinton's back, and it's over. In 90 minutes, I'm not sure Ohioans heard any more about jobs than they've seen from the candidates on their local news. If anybody was undecided, this final debate did not yield any superb clash that would tilt the campaign in either direction.

Obama's worst moment may have been his tapdancing on the Farrakhan endorsement.

Clinton's: If anything, her difficulty in pronouncing Russian President Vladimir Putin's hand-picked successor, Dmitry Medvedev, may show her foreign policy 'edge' over Obama may not be that big after all. The problem with her fumble is it could easily become a YouTube moment.

--Neil Simon

10:28

Clinton just ticked off a little list of foreign nations and a few issues that certainly gave the impression she could have drawn a contrast with Obama all night on those issues.

In a closing question, Obama said Clinton would be worthy as a nominee. I think I'd be better, he said. There's no doubt Senator Clinton would be better than Senator McCain, who I respect but he has tethered himself to George W. Bush.

Clinton answered in a similar fashion and here comes a repeat of the Texas debate-ending love-fest. "I still intend to do everything I can to win, but it has been an honor," she said.


--Neil Simon

10:20 p.m. Obama deflected his more-liberal-than-Ted-Kennedy rating by saying he only differed from Clinton on two votes. One was an immigration vote that would allow guest workers to stay in the U.S., rather than return to their home countries for a year and coming back to the U.S. The other vote was establishing an independent office to investigate Senate ethics cases. Obama said those issues, particularly of the Senate ethics office, should not be scored as 'liberal.'

--Neil Simon

10:12 p.m.

Regarding the support of anti-semite and head of the Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan, Obama said "I have been very clear in my denunciation of him and his past statements. I did not solicit this support."

But Obama, at first would not reject the support.

Responding to the question he said, "I can’t say to somebody that he can’t say I’m a good guy."

Clinton said she was in a similar position in New York during a past campaign and she rejected that support. "I was willing to take that stand," she said.
"At the time, I thought it was more important to stand on principle."

If the word reject is stronger than the word denounce, I will reject and denounce and concede the point, Obama said.

"Good, good," Clinton said.

The audience laughed.

The exchange that could have been expanded was quickly turned into a debate of semantics.

9:56

Though Brian Williams said the video was the wrong one, they just showed a clip of Clinton mocking Obama at a campaign rally

Clinton on video says: "The sky will open, the light will come down. Celestial choirs will sing. The world will be perfect." The crowd laughs.

Obama (live) chuckles and shrugs, "Sounds good."

Obama: I give her points for delivery.

Clinton gives her signature laugh.

--Neil Simon

9:46

Clinton really threw down the gauntlet now, accusing Obama of not holding oversight hearings on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's role in Afghanistan.
He references Afghanistan, Clinton said. He chairs a subcommittee of the foreign affairs committee with jurisidiction over Europe, she said, yet "He’s held not one substantive hearing" on NATO's role in Afghanistan.

Obama responded, that he became chairman of the committee at the beginning of this campaign, and it’s true, "I have not held hearings on NATO."

--Neil Simon

9:34

Brian Williams teed up a question about Clinton and McCain to get to Obama's ability to lead the nation on foreign policy, Obama returned to the war in Iraq. "Senator Clinton, I think, equates experience with longevity in Washington. I don’t think the American people do. On the critical issues that matter, my judgment has been sound."

Clinton: Every time the foreign policy issue is raised, Senator Obama rightly turns to a speech he gave in 2002.
Many people gave speeches. He didn’t have responsibility. The fair comparison is when we both had responsibility. Where is the difference?
Standing on that stage with Senator McCain, I will have a much better case to make on a range of issues.

--Neil Simon

9:26

Tim Russert, quoting Clinton's past statements, said Clinton had praised NAFTA, saying the trade agreement had "proven its worth."

Russert asked, "Will you, as president, say to Mexico and Canada, 'We’re out.'"

Clinton: "I will say we have to renegotiate. I will say we will opt out of NAFTA unless we renegotiate it and on terms that are beneficial for all of America."

On the same question, Obama: I will make sure we renegotiate. I think Sen. Clinton’s answer is right on this one. "We should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage to get labor and environmental standards enforced."

--Neil Simon