Wed, May 07, 2008 - 5:21 PM

State Del. Jennifer McClellan of Richmond, has turned on the woman she said "inspired her political career."

McClellan who sat with Hillary Clinton at a 1992 presidential debate at the University of Richmond and stood behind the former first lady through numerous primary losses, is now backing Barack Obama.

McClellan announced the flip in a conference call with another politician to whom she is indebted -- Gov. Tim Kaine.

The Virginia governor is a national co-chair for Obama's campaign. Two years ago he appointed McClellan, then a freshman state delegate, to a state commission on sexual violence.

The campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are aggressively lobbying uncommitted superdelegates today, cherry picking the most favorable trends from the North Carolina and Indiana primaries to argue for their candidate.

Several superdelegates from North Carolina remain unaligned with either candidate this morning, but at least one, Rep. Heath Shuler, said he's backing Clinton.

The deciding factor: though Obama won the state, his Western North Carolina district voted overwhelmingly for Clinton. Not much of a surprise there. Shuler’s district is populated with the sort of rural, blue-collar workers that Clinton courted so heavily this year.

At least two other uncommitted superdelegates are remaining mum, at least for now.

A spokesman for Rep. Bob Etheridge said he has no plans to endorse today.

Nor does Rep. Brad Miller. In interview, he seemed to suggest that his odds of ultimately backing Obama are higher than they were before Tuesday, given that Obama stretched his delegate lead last night.

“I’m going to let it settle out for a couple of days, look closely at the results in North Carolina and my district, see where the candidates are, and then make a decision on whether I should indicate my support,” he said.

Miller said his district -- with its mix of country, small towns and urban areas -- is generally representative of the state as a whole, which Obama won handily.

An overriding concern driving his decision, he said, was the future health of the party. Supporters of both candidates need to be convinced that the superdelegates selected the nominee fairly, he said.

At the end of the final primary June 3, if Clinton has whittled down Obama’s delegate lead to under 100 or so, Miller said he could envision voting for Clinton, if voters in his district showed a preference for her in last night’s election. But unless Clinton wins overwhelming victories – far out of line with previous Democratic primaries – that’s unlikely to happen.

“In four weeks, if Sen. Obama ends the contest with a 150- or 160-delegate lead and Sen. Clinton ends up as the nominee, Sen. Obama’s supporters will not think that it ended fairly. I think that will be a hard breach to heal,” he said.

--Sean Mussenden

A day after suffering a major drubbing in North Carolina and a narrower than expected victory in Indiana, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s staff revealed today that the candidate has loaned her campaign $6.4 million over the last month, including about a $1.5 million in the last few days.

Including the $5 million she loaned the campaign in January, Clinton has now dumped $11.4 million of her own money into her increasingly unlikely bid to overtake Barack Obama’s lead in the Democratic nomination fight.

On a conference call with reporters this morning, Howard Wolfson, the campaign’s communications director, said that the loans should be seen as sign of Clinton’s commitment to her campaign. When things looked down for Clinton in January, the $5 million loan helped spark a wave of new donations that helped her close the fundraising gap with Obama a bit. Her staff hopes for a repeat this time, to help rack up wins in the next six primaries.

But surely, the necessity of pumping even more of her own money into the campaign – at this point, more than the $10.5 million she made for her book “Living History” -- will also be seen as a sign of desperation.

There’s one irony worth noting. Clinton has emerged as the preferred candidate of low-to-middle income voters on the strength of her populist economic message. Her campaign likes to portray Obama as an elite candidate preferred by college-educated types – “eggheads” in the words of an anonymous Clinton advisor quoted in The Washington Post this morning.

But, of course, wealth is an important measure of the amorphous concept of eliteness, perhaps the most important measure. The Clintons and the Obamas are both millionaires, but the Clintons are worth far more than the Obamas, largely because of paid speeches Bill Clinton has given since leaving office. He has made nearly $52 million from speeches.

The loans she has made to her campaign represent a small fraction of the $109 million the couple has earned in the eight years since Bill Clinton left office. In fact, the money she has loaned her campaign dwarfs the Obamas’ income. The Obamas reported income of $4.2 million last year, up from just under $1 milllion in 2006.

--Sean Mussenden

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Chris Dodd has just lost his temper on the U.S. Senate floor amid anticipated efforts today by Florida senators and other Gulf Coast lawmakers to tack amendments concerning hurricane protection onto his national flood insurance program bill.

Florida Sens. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, and Mel Martinez, a Republican, and other lawmakers plan today and Thursday to seek to amend the bill today to add wind coverage or even a national catastrophic insurance fund.

But according to Hill sources, Dodd may have had a different target in mind with his floor remarks. Those sources said Republicans with energy industry ties are planning to try to amend the bill to allow drilling off Florida and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, ease refinery permitting and take other coal- and oil-friendly measures.

“An awful lot of people are going to get hurt, and costs are going to go up!” bellowed Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut, “because we can’t spend 24 hours here doing one thing – and that is deal with flood insurance!”

Dodd is chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee – which drafted the flood insurance renewal bill.

-- Billy House

So this is how the day after goes for those superdelegates. Every Wednesday it seems affords a new week of recalculating, but the numbers still aren’t there for either Clinton or Obama, which means, barring a drop-out, superdelegates are still the key to the Democratic nomination.

Virginia Del. Lionell Spruill of Chesapeake, an announced Clinton supporter, on his way to Washington to meet with the Clinton campaign said Tuesday’s results were “very interesting.”

He said he’s waiting until Montana and South Dakota primary elections June 3 before he makes any further decisions in the race. Still, “everybody and their momma’s” calling him, he said.

“The more I’m out of the press, the more they leave me alone,” Spruill said. “They see me in the press, they start calling and pressuring me.”

For now, Spruill said he’s waiting on Clinton to call the shots. “I don’t know what’s on her mind,” he said. “I guess we have to wait and see what will happen.”

-Neil H. Simon

WASHINGTON - Malfunctions on a state plane to Washington carrying Florida GOP Gov. Charlie Crist, often mentioned as a potential vice presidential running mate for John McCain, on Tuesday prompted the two pilots to turn the craft around and return to Tallahassee

The plane also was carrying three Crist staffers and a Florida Department of Law Enforcement officer to Washington, D.C..

"The pilots informed us during a middle of a briefing, and the governor kept us all working to keep our minds occupied," said Crist's spokeswoman, Erin Isaac.

About 45 minutes into the flight somewhere over Georgia, she said, pilots David Young and Jan Neilson detected three separate malfunctions, with mechanisms that control the tail and the steering, as well as the autopilot. The plane then returned to Tallahassee safely.

The governor turned to alternative transportation and is to appear today for several apppointments, including a lunch with NBC political analyst Timm Russert, and attend a dinner of a group of Florida business executives.

-- Billy House

Tue, May 06, 2008 - 10:19 AM

With North Carolinians busy choosing between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama this morning, John McCain dropped into Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem to deliver a speech on how he would select judicial nominees.

"For decades now, some federal judges have taken it upon themselves to pronounce and rule on matters that were never intended to be heard in courts or decided by judges. With a presumption that would have amazed the framers of our Constitution, and legal reasoning that would have mystified them, federal judges today issue rulings and opinions on policy questions that should be decided democratically. Assured of lifetime tenures, these judges show little regard for the authority of the president, the Congress, and the states. They display even less interest in the will of the people. And the only remedy available to any of us is to find, nominate, and confirm better judges," he said.

--Sean Mussenden

In what People magazine online is touting as the first joint interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards since he left the presidential race in January, the Edwardses said Monday they aren't endorsing Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. But they're hardly harsh critics.

Elizabeth Edwards said she likes Hillary Clinton's health care plan -- but not "the lobbyist money." John Edwards doesn't like her old-style politics.

Barack Obama won praise from Elizabeth Edwards for motivating young people -- but not for his health care plan or his health care advertising, which she said is misleading. John Edwards said he believes Obama would bring about real change and do things differently in Washington -- but said he would like to see more substance from the Illinois senator.

Bottom line: Looks like Edwards is keeping his options open. They say they've got their own causes: fighting poverty (his) and fighting for universal health care (hers). Could he also be hoping for another vice presidential offer?

-- Marsha Mercer

Mon, May 05, 2008 - 7:57 AM

Several key Democratic leaders and energy economists are convinced that Sen. Hillary Clinton's proposed gas tax cut will do nothing to actually lower the price of gasoline. The economic explanation is a bit complex, but essentially they say that the tight supply of oil would allow oil companies to pretty much immediately raise the price back to the same level as before the cut. The tax money that would have gone to the federal government would instead go to oil companies. (Clinton wants to impose a windfall profit tax on oil companies to make up for that loss, but regardless, economists say, the price of gasoline will stay relatively unchanged, or drop a small percentage of the 18.4 cent tax rate).

Still, her plan has proved politically popular with working class voters. But the chorus of elected officials denouncing a gas tax cut has intensified and, embarrassingly for Clinton, includes one of her key supporters in North Carolina -- Gov. Mike Easley, sort of. Last year, at a time when North Carolina was considering capping or cutting the gas tax or sales tax to provide relief to consumers, Easley was quoted in the Charlotte Observer calling a gas tax cut "a subsidy to big oil companies."

Naturally, Easley says he is supportive of Clinton's plan now, promoting it as he has travelled the state with her. But that hasn't stopped the Obama campaign from using his words against her in an ad that went up today. Here's the ad:



--Sean Mussenden

Sat, May 03, 2008 - 12:27 PM

WAKE FOREST, NC – Energy economists think Sen. Hillary Clinton’s proposal to suspend the federal gas tax this summer will do nothing to lower gas prices.

Because oil supplies are so tight, The complex market forces that drive the international petroleum markets will likely send prices almost immediately back to pre-tax cut levels.

But the vast majority of voters aren’t energy economists. And those flocking to Clinton’s campaign events as she crosses North Carolina this weekend aren’t hearing the economic message, or choosing to ignore it.

At a get out the vote event in this growing bedroom community north of Raleigh this morning, her tax proposal drew by far the loudest cheers from the crowd.

“I think it’s imperative that we try to obtain some immediate relief, and what I’ve proposed would do just that. There’s a big disagreement in this campaign. You see it in the headlines, about where sen. Obama and I stand about the immediate crisis we face on the energy front,” she said. Obama opposes the move, agreeing with energy economists who think it will do little or nothing.

The message hit home with commuters like Tommy Barham. He commutes 45 minutes in traffic every day commuting from Wake Forest to his job in Raleigh. His gas bill has doubled to $500 over the last few years. Despite what economists say, he’s convinced it will help.

“The gas tax is a good start. We’ve got to do something for the working man driving to work every day,” he said.

--Sean Mussenden

Fri, May 02, 2008 - 3:02 PM

A senior adviser to John McCain says the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign is now talking with senior White House staff everyday.

President Bush and McCain, former GOP rivals, “have an excellent relationship,” Charlie Black said at a lunch hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

Black said McCain is “not a protégé” of President Bush and would not be an extension of Bush’s presidency as Democrats have claimed. He cited McCain’s differences with Bush on federal spending and the initial war strategy, but was clear that Bush’s White House team is helping the presumptive Republican nominee at every turn of the campaign.

Black said the White House got a “head’s up” earlier this week before McCain called out Bush for his poor handling of hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Click the play button below to hear Black talk about the McCain campaign’s coordination with the White House.


Black said he’d be “surprised, but not shocked” if Hillary Clinton won the Democratic nomination and gave Obama credit for bringing new voters into the process.

Click the play button below to hear Black on how Obama represents a different kind of candidacy.


But Black said Obama still would be challenged to hold together the traditional Democratic coalition of black voters and working class whites. To that end, he said Clinton’s continued success among blue collar voters showed Obama’s weakness with that constituency before the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy emerged.

Click the play button below to hear Black on how Rev. Jeremiah Wright did not hurt Barack Obama’s standing among white blue collar Democrats.


--Neil Simon

Thu, May 01, 2008 - 2:10 PM

Sen. Barack Obama picked up a couple of big endorsements in the last 24 hours.

First, former Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew switched his endorsement from Sen. Hillary Clinton to Obama, calling on Democrats to "unite behind Barack Obama now."

Andrew's move is quite a coup for Obama, but the former DNC chair doesn't wear a leather jacket, ride a motorcycle or, as far as we know, have the ability to start a juke box with a tap from his fist. Which makes him much less cool than the other recently announced Obama-backer, Henry Winkler, best know as "The Fonz" on "Happy Days."

In an interview with The LA City Beat, Winkler was a bit reluctant to reveal who he supported in the race for the White House, but then admitted to being "an Obama guy."

Said Winkler of Obama:

You can not be that articulate that often and not have it on the ball. People say we need “experience,” but intelligence and passion are what we need to fix this country again after what they’ve done to it.

-- Mark Young

It’s fair to say that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is a thorn in the side of Barack Obama that just won’t go away.

But Obama's pastor may haunt other candidates in other races throughout the country.

Check out this report from The Atlantic on the House race in the First District in Mississippi between Democrat Travis Childers and Republican Greg Davis.

Childers criticized the ad linking himself and the now-infamous pastor as a distraction.

Other Democrats may find themselves with the same distractions as the Congressional campaign season heats up.

-- Amy Dominello

Democrats in Birmingham are getting a real headliner tomorrow night for the state party’s Jefferson Jackson Dinner.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi will give the keynote address at the dinner and it’s believed she is the first sitting Speaker to visit the state since Sam Rayburn nearly 50 years ago.

But by the time she leaves the state, Pelosi may be wishing she’d visited some other time. Pelosi will likely hear an earful from Alabamians urging her to support the U.S. Air Force decision to award a tanker contract to Northrop Grumman-EADS North America. The tankers would be assembled in Mobile.

The team beat out Boeing for the contract. The issue has become a flash point in Washington pitting legislators whose home districts in Washington and Kansas include Boeing operations that would lose out on jobs against those from Alabama, which would gain 1,500 jobs.

The contract has also ignited fireworks from some in Congress who have criticized the Air Force for awarding the contract to EADS, a foreign company, and sending jobs overseas.

Not coincidentally, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, R, signed a resolution Thursday morning urging Pelosi to accept the decision and “refrain from turning this vital national security matter into a political free for all.”

For her part, Pelosi has said the contract raises some serious questions that Congress must look at it.

But like it or not, she’ll have to hear about it on Friday.

-- Amy Dominello