Wed, April 09, 2008 - 7:33 AM

Finally, there's something that cuts across political lines.

Asked their favorite book of all time, Democrats, Republicans and independents responding to the Harris Interactive poll named The Bible first and "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell second. Harris Interactive Poll

What's your favorite?

-- Marsha Mercer

Mon, April 07, 2008 - 3:48 PM

When Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the multi-national force in Iraq, gives his congressional testimony on the war Tuesday, all three presidential candidates could be among his questioners.

Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and John McCain, R-Ariz., are both on the Senate Armed Services Committee. McCain is its top Republican, but before he attends the hearing he is scheduled to speak outside the Senate with a group of veterans rallying support for Petraeus and the troop surge strategy. Veterans for Freedom are bringing their “Heroes Tour” to Washington in time for the first report from the top commander in Iraq since September.

When Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker head to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday afternoon, Sen. Barack Obama will have his chance to question the men. Democratic Sens. Jim Webb, of Virginia, and Bill Nelson, of Florida, are the only colleagues of the candidates who could sit in on both interactions. Webb and Nelson sit on both committees hearing from the general and the diplomat Tuesday.

-Neil Simon

Mark Penn’s demotion at the Clinton campaign could put free trade and union issues back front and center in the Democratic nomination fight two weeks before the Pennsylvania primary.

In the days leading up to Ohio, a state Clinton ended up winning by 10 points, the Clinton campaign hammered Obama for being secretly in favor of NAFTA– the free trade agreement that many blue collar workers blame for the loss of many of their old Midwest factory jobs. An Obama adviser reportedly told the Canadian government that Obama’s campaign speeches against NAFTA were designed to play to a growing “protectionist sentiment” in the U.S. and not to be taken seriously by the Canadians.

But now ahead of Pennsylvania, the trade shoe is on the other foot with Clinton dismissing top aide Mark Penn after he met with the ambassador of Colombia. The Colombian government seeks a free trade deal with the U.S. that Clinton has opposed.

Penn, CEO of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, has been in other tricky spots before. Last summer he had to explain his firm’s involvement in an anti-union effort in California, work he said he recused himself from at the time.

American Research Group polls that had Clinton leading by six points last week now show her and Obama tied at 45 percent each. That’s before the Penn flap hit the news cycle. If Pennsylvania democrats are looking to save domestic jobs and vote against no-bid contracts in Iraq this month, what will they think when they learn Clinton’s pollster’s company was also being paid by the likes of Blackwater USA and the Colombian government?

-Neil Simon

Fri, April 04, 2008 - 4:29 PM

The Clinton campaign has released Bill and Hillary Clinton’s tax returns from 2000 through 2007.

I do find it interesting that a media advisory from the campaign about the release of the tax forms went out at 4 p.m. on a Friday.

Maybe, I’m just cynical, but that is the classic public relations move when you don’t want reporters spending too much time digging into the story.

You can find out all the juicy financial data here for yourself.

-- Amy Dominello

Wesley Clark, Virginia bloggers, and veterans groups opposing Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid are circulating an online petition to ask the Arizona senator to support a new GI bill being pushed by Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. Their petition has more than 18,000 names as of today, according to one third-party site.

The progressive Virginia blog Raising Kaine calls McCain AWOL on the battle to increase educational benefits for soldiers.

While 51 senators, including Virginia Republican John Warner, have cosponsored Webb’s GI bill, McCain has not.

-Neil Simon

If you need a number to tell you why John McCain is done making any glowing mentions of President George W. Bush for a while, the New York Times has it – 81. Eighty-one percent of Americans surveyed in a recent CBS News/New York Times poll said the country has “gotten off on the wrong track.”

The whole right track/wrong track question is often seen as an indicator of how voters will act regarding an incumbent’s reelection. Sixty-five percent of respondents said the country was “on the wrong track” at this time in 2004, but Bush won reelection that year.

McCain, who came around to support Bush’s tax cuts and has been a constant supporter of the surge strategy in Iraq, now has to portray himself as a the candidate who can change the direction of the country while the Democratic Party tries to paint his candidacy as a third term of a Bush presidency.

--Neil Simon

Thu, April 03, 2008 - 4:45 PM

Is Georgia’s “super-superdelegate” making an endorsement in the Democratic race for the White House?

Former President Jimmy Carter nearly, but not quite, came out for Barack Obama.

According to the Associated Press:

Speaking to local reporters Wednesday on a trip to Nigeria, the former Democratic president noted that Barack Obama had won his home state of Georgia and his hometown of Plains.

"My children and their spouses are pro-Obama. My grandchildren are also pro-Obama," he said at a press conference, according to the Nigerian newspaper This Day. "As a superdelegate, I would not disclose who I am rooting for, but I leave you to make that guess."

Oh, you’d better believe it. I think we can look forward to countless hours of guessing by cable television pundits about Carter’s remarks and its impact – or lack thereof - on the race.

-- Amy Dominello

So you’ve heard of American Idol – the show where they whittle down hordes of singers to crown one winner, something the Democrats have been able to do this primary season. Now there is a political version of the show with its winners getting a free trip to – no, not Hollywood – the Democratic or Republican National Conventions.

The Political Pundit Breakout Broadcasting Competition is going on right now and you can vote for the entries online. I think this guy is particularly funny, and sane, always refreshing in the world of televised punditry.

-Neil Simon

The tipping point in the Democratic nomination races keeps moving. First politicos said the deciding date would be Super Tuesday, then it was the Texas and Ohio primaries. More recently, pundits have been looking to Pennsylvania, but with Hillary Clinton's lead there now shrinking, it looks like neither candidate will score a victory there decisive enough to be a knockout blow.

Now USA Today speculates that if Barack Obama scores a big win in North Carolina, THAT will be the death knell for the Clinton campaign. Democratic strategist Joe Trippi believes that superdelegates will flock to Obama following a clear victory there. Such a win would also shrink the already narrow path by which Clinton can get the nomination.

On the other hand, if Clinton can manage to upset Obama in the Tar Heel State, it could have the same effect her win in New Hampshire did in January -- reinvigorating a campaign that many talking heads have already declared dead.

-- Mark Young

Tue, April 01, 2008 - 3:39 PM

Alluding to early appearances of his now-infamous temper, Sen. John McCain talked about his old days at Episcopal High School, where he graduated in 1954.

McCain recalled today the hazing suffered by all freshmen, known as ‘rats' at the Alexandria, Va. school.

“I made my resentment clear in my usual immature ways to upperclassmen and school officials, piling up demerits and earning the distinction at the end of the year of ‘worst rat,’” said McCain, who graduated in 1954 from the then-segregated boarding school.

“If my detractors had known me here … they might marvel at the self-restraint and mellowness I developed as an adult,” he said.

Former classmate Edward “Boopa” Pritchard, Jr. joined McCain at the forum and said the same relentlessness McCain showed in high school is now seen on the campaign trail.

“He was tough” Pritchard said. “When he got out on a wrestling mat, he didn’t want to lose, and as a result he very seldom did.”

-Neil H. Simon

It must be tough to answer questions about your father’s infidelity. But is Chelsea Clinton fair game on the campaign trail?

Chelsea last week at Butler University:



And Monday at N.C. State University:



Chelsea is by no means the 12-year-old child she was when she entered the White House. She’s 28 with two degrees and is an active and effective campaigner for her mother.

What’s been surprising to me is her level of indignation at being asked questions about Monica Lewinsky. Clearly, she has the right to decide whether to answer the students’ questions or not. However, don’t the students have the same right to ask?

As she keeps campaigning, Chelsea may find it harder to dodge such questions about her parents’ past.

-- Amy Dominello