Wed, April 09, 2008 - 5:38 PM

Hillary Clinton may not want to spend a lot of time discussing her service on the board of corporate behemoth Wal-Mart, but the Center for Public Integrity does.

The non-partisan, non-profit investigative group posted two videos of Clinton at a Wal-Mart ribbon-cutting. Seems innocuous enough, right? But then they’ve got Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton in a trucker hat, praising Clinton as one of his best board members. For more on the Center’s views of the Clinton Wal-Mart ties – who in Arkansas didn’t have them? – go here.

It’s no fireworks video like this debate clip from Barack Obama and Clinton sniping on the subject, but it is an interesting look back at 1991 – if not for the bad hair and “real” trucker hats then for the glimpse into Clinton’s work for the retail giant.

WASHINGTON – A new poll shows most voters have no clue about the presidential contenders’ positions on immigration.

The poll commissioned by the Center for Immigration Studies also indicates that voters often held different positions from the candidates they supported.

For instance, only 34 percent of the 546 Republicans and 730 Democrats surveyed between March 12 and 13 who voted in primaries for Sen. John McCain correctly identified the Arizona Republican as favoring eventual citizenship for undocumented immigrants who meet certain requirements.

Likewise, just 42 percent of those who voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton were aware that the New York Democrat also favored eventual citizenship, and 52 percent of those who voted for Barack Obama knew the Illinois Democrat did, too.

The poll also showed that these voters oftent held different positions from the candidate the supported. Only 31 percent of McCain voters had the same immigration position as he does. For Clinton, 45 percent of her voters shared her position, while 61 percent of Obama supporters shared his stance.

-- Billy House

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

Mon, March 31, 2008 - 3:30 PM

Updated at 3 p.m. to add comments from Rep. Mike McIntyre's office.

Are North Carolina’s Democratic members of Congress set to endorse Barack Obama?

The Wall Street Journal says so, citing anonymous – and seemingly conflicting – sources. They report this morning that:

“North Carolina's seven Democratic House members are poised to endorse Sen. Obama as a group -- just one has so far -- before that state's May 6 primary, several Democrats say.”

Then the paper goes on to cite “one North Carolinian” who “confirmed that at least several of the state's House members would go public in favor of Sen. Obama before long."

So is it all, or just some? Or perhaps none?

I talked to spokesmen for six of the seven Democratic members of congress from North Carolina this morning, and they all said they had not heard of any plans by the delegation to back Obama.

Quick backstory: All seven of North Carolina’s Democratic members of Congress backed fellow North Carolinian John Edwards last year. Rep. G.K. Butterfield eventually defected to Barack Obama, but the other six stayed. Since Edwards dropped out, they have not come out for either Obama or Clinton.

Butterfield told my colleague James Romoser this morning that he has heard that several North Carolina Democrats — but not all of them — will endorse Barack Obama this week, possibly as early as tomorrow.

“That is not true,” he said of the story. “Our goal is to enlist all seven, but I’m not saying to you that it will happen.”

“Two or three” members of the state’s Democratic delegation will endorse Obama as early as tomorrow, Butterfield said. He would not identify who they are. The other members of the delegation may end up endorsing Obama, but may remain neutral through May 6, Butterfield said. He said that he does not believe any of them will endorse Clinton.

If Butterfield is correct, then which NC Dems are planning to endorse Obama?

“He has no plans to endorse anyone,” said Joanne Peters, a spokesman for Rep. Bob Etheridge.

"The WSJ misfired," wrote Andrew Whalen, a spokesman for Rep. Heath Shuler.

Paul Cox, a spokesman for Rep. David Price, called the Journal report "wrong." "What he's said before is that he's watching the campaign very closely, and may or may not have an announcement on an endorsement," Cox said. Price, Cox said, "has no plans" to endorse either candidate, but could do so before the state's primary.

LuAnn Canipe, a spokesman for Rep. Brad Miller, also said her boss had no plans to endorse any candidate. "He's still deliberating," she said. Asked if Miller would be one of the "two or three" Butterfield suggested would endorse Obama as soon as this week, Canipe said no.

Dean Mitchell, a spokesman for Rep. Mike McIntyre, said that his boss remains "uncommitted." When asked if McIntyre would one of the "two or three" coming out for Obama mentioned by Butterfield, Mitchell said no.

A spokesman for Rep. Mel Watt also said he had not heard of any plans to endorse Obama. He said he would check with his boss to see if an endorsement plan was in the works.

Update at 11:18 a.m. Talking Points Memo has a carefully worded statement from an Obama spokesman. It denies the WSJ report, but leaves open the possibility that some NC Democrats in Congress have indeed decided to support Obama, but are not prepared to announce it.

“We’re pleased to have the support of Rep. Butterfield and are working to earn the endorsement of his colleagues in the NC Congressional delegation. Despite the Wall Street Journal’s optimism, none of them has told our campaign that they are ready to announce their endorsement of Senator Obama -- so we’ll keep working on it.”

--Sean Mussenden

Any presidential candidate would have loved the casual 15 minutes of air time President Bush enjoyed last night on ESPN during the Washington Nationals-Atlanta Braves season opener.

After throwing out the first pitch -- “high heat” the President called it -- Bush spent the entire third inning and half of the fourth in the announcer’s booth at the brand new stadium.

He even made the play-by-play call during the park’s first home run. To see it, go to mlb.com (the Nationals-Braves game is here).

They require you to register, but the video is free and the whole game is viewable online. Scroll ahead to 1:04:18 through 1:18:48 in the timeline to see the president’s appearance, including play-by-play, commentary on steroids in baseball, and analysis of his first pitch (a good throw, but no strike by any stretch). The homer is around 1:11:35.

Happy Opening Day.

--Neil Simon