A new poll by the non-partisan think tank the Center for Immigration Studies found that the majority of voters know very little about the three remaining presidential candidates’ positions on immigration.
All signs continue to point to Barack Obama becoming the Democratic nominee, as today Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) became the latest super delegate to endorse Obama.
In this week’s issue of Newsweek, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain tried to reassure voters about his position on a potential war with Iran. Michael Hirsh interviewed McCain and asked him if his Los Angeles speech last week was designed to quiet some voters’ fears that he wants to lead the nation to war against Iran.
On CNN’s “Late Edition” today Wolf Blitzer interviewed outspoken critic of the Iraq war, Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. Blitzer asked Hagel about critics of the war who say that the president is ignoring reality and living in a dream world.
Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) appeared on ABC’s “This Week” program today, and burned any bridges that he might have had remaining with the Democratic Party. Lieberman claims that the Democratic Party is different than in the Clinton years, because it has been taken over by the left.
There was an interesting post on Ralph Nader’s blog yesterday signed by the man himself expressing the opinion that Hillary Clinton has every right to remain in the Democratic presidential field.
John Edwards gave his first public speech today since withdrawing from the Democratic race a couple of months ago. He had lots of nice things to say about both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but dropped no hints about when or if his personal endorsement was coming. “I have a very high opinion of both of them.
Recently elected Rep. Bill Foster (D-IL) gave this week’s Democratic Radio address. Foster’s topic was the Democrats economic plan, and its priority on helping middle class families. “My constituents are worried about the economy, and with good reason. They can barely afford groceries or a trip to the gas station.
The Republican National Committee has demanded that Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean apologize for remarks he made yesterday about the latest campaign ad from John McCain.
Here is the ad in question:
On the same day that Pennsylvania super delegate Sen. Bob Casey endorsed Obama, Sen. Patrick Leahy released a statement calling for Clinton to withdraw and support Obama. However, Clinton continues to vow to fight on.
Barack Obama picked up a critical endorsement in Pennsylvania today, when Sen. Bob Casey Jr. decided to announce his endorsement of him at a rally in Pittsburgh. “I believe in my heart that there is one person whose uniquely qualified to lead us in that new direction and that is Barack Obama,” Casey said.
Well, we are now down to three. Three candidates who have a chance at being President come this November. One Republican and two Democrats. History will be made regardless of who wins. We will see the first black President, the first female to be elected to the Oval Office or the oldest Commander-in-Chief.
On the same day that the State Department instructed all its employees not to leave reinforced structures, due to increased rocket attacks in the Green Zone, President Bush gave a speech in Dayton, OH where he continued to paint a rosy picture of the situation in Iraq, and said the critics of the war refuse to acknowledge the progress that has been made.
Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign put out a press release today, firing back at the Barack Obama campaign’s claims that Clinton has a history of distorting her record. The Clinton camp accused Obama of using Clinton’s Bosnia exaggerations to deflect attention from the Rev. Wright story.
Both the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns released statements responding to the foreign policy speech that John McCain gave today. Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton released a statement that tried to contrast the old (McCain) with the new (Obama).
Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader sent a letter to House Judiciary Chair John Conyers today urging that the option of impeachment be placed back on the table for President Bush.
Today on his website former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska announced that he is leaving the Democratic Party for the Libertarian Party. Gravel, who was the best thing about those early Democratic primary debates said, “Today, I am announcing my plan to join the Libertarian Party, because the Democratic Party no longer represents my vision for our great country.
McCain stated that it is immaterial whether al-Qaeda was Iraq before the invasion or not. “Those who claim we should withdraw from Iraq in order to fight Al Qaeda more effectively elsewhere are making a dangerous mistake.
The Barack Obama campaign has jumped on the opening created by Hillary Clinton’s absurd Bosnia exaggeration to add a few of their own choices to Clinton’s list.
A friend of mine and I were swapping some email, and he pointed out to me that Ron Paul is still running for president. I replied that this makes sense, because there is no way that Paul will ever endorse, John “Warmonger” McCain, so why should he get off the ballot?
Nancy Reagan became the latest big name Republican to announce her support for John McCain today. “John McCain has been a good friend for over thirty years. My husband and I first came to know him as a returning Vietnam War POW, and were impressed by the courage he had shown through his terrible ordeal.
Obama advisor Gordon Fisher invoked the Lewinsky scandal and earned the wrath of many a Democrat, except me. Fisher was blogging about Bill Clinton insinuating that Barack Obama was not a patriot. “B. Clinton questions Obama’s patriotism. In repsonse, an Obama aide compared B. Clinton to Joe McCarthy. This is patently unfair. To McCarthy.
Former congresswoman and Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro asserted that if Barack “Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in this concept.”
In separate statements today, Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama commented on the 4,000th U.S. casualty in Iraq.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi released a statement today marking the 4,000th U.S. casualty in Iraq. “Today, we mourn America’s fallen heroes; the deaths of 4,000 American soldiers are a grim reminder of the enormous cost of war in Iraq: the human cost.
A collection of political quotes that you might have missed over the past week. This was a popular feature in my old column, so I decided to bring it back.
“They will do anything — anything — to get nominated.”
— An associate of the Clintons who was quoted by Bob Novak in his Washington Post column 3/24
At a speech in Philadelphia, PA today, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton unveiled her four point plan to deal with the nation’s housing crisis. “I will start by facing our economic situation as it is, not as we wish it would be.
A study done last week by Ashland (Ohio) University chemistry professor Jeffrey D. Weidenhamer found that 13 of 45 Easter eggs and toys purchased at retail outlets contained lead. “We may like to think that lead contaminated toys have been taken off the shelves, but unfortunately the evidence shows that’s not the case,” said Dr. Marcia J.
One story and demographic that has been more or less constant for Barack Obama has been his struggle to win Catholic voters.
James Carville thinks that Bill Richardson committed an act of betrayal when he endorsed Barack Obama on Friday. This got me thinking, what more did Richardson owe the Clintons?
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama continue to raise staggering sums of money, while John McCain continues to wait for the funds to start rolling in. Obama raised $55,369,162 in the month of February. Hillary Clinton also had a great month. She raised $34,466,631. For poor John McCain, the money just isn’t coming in very quickly.
This week’s Democratic radio address was delivered by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and focused on the beginning the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war, and its costs at home and abroad. Menendez started by praising the troops then said, “When it comes to honoring and supporting our troops and their families, Democrats and Republicans stand as one.
Ron Paul will never be considered a quote machine; in fact on the surface it appears a little odd to some that this 71 year old man became the cult figure of the 2008 campaign. I think his appeal lies in the fact that candidates such as John McCain pretend to be mavericks, while Ron Paul is the real deal.
What becomes obvious at first glance is that both campaigns chose to focus on Iraq in a different way. Clinton wanted to focus all blame on the Republicans, while looking presidential. This is a strategy aimed at the general election. “The mistakes in Iraq are not the responsibility of our men and women in uniform but of their Commander-in-Chief.
The White House has released early excerpts of a speech President Bush will be giving at the Pentagon on Wednesday to mark the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the war in Iraq. The president does acknowledge that the war came at a high price, but also continues to maintain that the U.S. is winning.
In a video posted on his website almost two weeks ago, Republican Rep. Ron Paul hinted at the obvious. With John McCain clinching the GOP nomination, his presidential campaign is over. The Ron Paul phenomenon of 2008 is interesting because it revealed a great deal about where the Republican Party has been, and quite possibly where it is going.
A new Quinnipiac University poll of the state of Pennsylvania released today found that Hillary Clinton has widened her lead over Barack Obama to 12 points. This represents a doubling over her lead in the previous February 27 poll, but Obama has still managed to cut into the 18 point lead that Clinton enjoyed on February 14.
After discussing America’s racial history, and describing his mixed race background, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said that the concept that we are the sum of our parts is seared into his genetic makeup. He discussed the racial tensions surrounding his campaign. “This is not to say that race has not been an issue in the campaign.
The members of the new women’s online community wowOwow.com voted on which four women they would like to see on Mt. Rushmore. As a man, I think that three of the choices make perfect sense. Eleanor Roosevelt, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks would, to me, all be worthy of this type of recognition. They are all Americans who made great contributions to our society.
A new national study by HCD Research of 798 Democrats, Republicans, and Independents found that an across party lines majority said that they were less likely to support Barack Obama after viewing video segments of sermons given by his pastor Jeremiah Wright.
Today, House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi issued a statement urging the President Bush to do more to help Americans struggling under the weight of the current economy. “While there is no quick fix to repair our struggling economy, more must be done to begin to reverse the economic mismanagement of the past seven years.
Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton gave what was billed as a major policy address at George Washington University today on her three part plan for ending the war in Iraq. Clinton spent an unusual amount of time during the early part of her address attacking both John McCain and Barack Obama.
The White House wouldn’t give any details on Cheney’s trip except to say that he was there in an effort to build political unity in the country. Does anyone else find it ironic that an administration which has thrived on political division and secrecy, now finds itself in the position of having to unify Iraq?
The conventional wisdom says that the Clinton/Obama battle hurts the Democratic Party the longer it drags out, but I disagree. I think that whoever emerges as the nominee could be in a prime position to ride a wave of momentum the whole way to the White House.
In the new issue of Newsweek, which hits newsstands tomorrow, Howard Fineman interviewed Ralph Nader and asked him a wide range of questions about Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic candidates, and the role of reform minded politicians. Nader was asked if personal behavior should be a test of how we measure public officials and candidates.
Barack Obama continued his campaign based on the promise of emotional renewal for both the Democratic Party and the United States. Obama retold the story of Bobby Kennedy’s speech in Indianapolis shortly after the death of Martin Luther King.
An HCD Research national study of 431 Democrats found that most of them disagree with Geraldine Ferraro’s statement that, “Barack Obama would not have made it this far if he was a white man.” The study was done to analyze voter perception of video segments of Ferraro on Fox News where she defended her comments about Obama.
Today, President Bush used his weekly radio address to defend his administration’s policies towards the housing crisis and the economic stimulus package. The president continued to put a happy face on the terrible state of the economy.
Today the House of the Representatives passed a Democratic bill that would set the rules for the surveillance of the emails and phone calls of people within the United States. The bill was passed among mostly partisan lines, 213-197.
Four key Michigan Democrats have been discussing with the Clinton and Obama campaigns a plan to hold a do-over primary in the state of Michigan on June 3. The four Democrats include Sen. Carl Levin, Rep. Carol Cheeks Kilpatrick, the president of the United Auto Workers, and a member of the Democratic National Committee.
Ahead of Vice President Dick Cheney’s trip to the Middle East Democratic Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) wrote him a letter asking him to negotiate with OPEC to reduce oil prices.
Today both the House and Senate voted to let many of the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010. The House Democrats budget plan would increase spending on domestic programs, and pay for it by letting all of the Bush tax cuts die. The Senate was much choosier. It extended $340 billion worth of tax cuts for middle and upper income people, businesses, and those inheriting large estates.
In 2004, President George W. Bush was able to win reelection in part based on his campaign’s ability to characterize his opponent John Kerry as a flip-flopper, a.k.a. a politician who changes his views as easily as the wind blows. Bush famously characterized Kerry as being for the Iraq war before he was against it.
Geraldine Ferraro sent a letter to Hillary Clinton this afternoon informing her that she was stepping down from her post on Clinton’s finance committee. “I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign,” Ferraro wrote.
At a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Committee Chair Rep. John Conyers said that net neutrality must be preserved, and stated that he is willing to propose legislation to do so. “I am concerned that if Congress stands by and does nothing, we will soon find ourselves living in a world where those who pay, can play (on the Internet), but those who don’t are simply out of luck,” Conyers said.
The latest political firestorm between the Clinton and Obama campaigns centers on some comments that Clinton supporter and former Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro made to the Daily Breeze newspaper of Torrance, CA last Friday. Ferraro said, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.
I was watching MSNBC this afternoon when they had their political director Chuck Todd on for a segment. Usually, Mr. Todd provides the standard look at some poll numbers or data. It is pretty straightforward stuff, but today he said something that got me thinking.
After their victories in Ohio and Texas last week, the Clinton campaign started publicly stating that they are open to the idea of selecting Barack Obama as her running mate. When asked about running with Obama Clinton said, “Well that may be where this is headed but we have to decide who is top of the ticket. I think the people of Ohio very clearly said that it should be me.”
Even though the media is using terms like “shocking” and “bombshell” to describe the revelations that Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer had used the services of a high end prostitution ring, it isn’t really much of a surprise that another powerful politician is caught up in a sex scandal. In my mind, Spitzer’s anti-crime crusader rhetoric is no different than Sen. Larry Craig being vehemently anti-gay, or Sen. David Vitter being a staunch public defender of marriage and family values all the while cheating on his wife with prostitutes.
Is it a coincidence that Hillary Clinton frequently uses the word experience while campaigning, or that Barack Obama’s campaign is identified with the need for change? How about the identification of John McCain as a candidate who will stand strong on national security? 2008 has become the year when campaigning has gone beyond identification of candidates with issues and personalities, and in to the area of branding.
Today, President Bush used his weekly radio address to defend his veto of a bill that would have banned the use of waterboarding and other forms of torture by the CIA. The president’s first point was to remind America that al-Qaeda is out there and wanting to attack. “Al Qaida remains determined to attack America again.
On Thursday DNC Chair Howard Dean made all the rounds on the cable news networks and morning talk shows suggesting that it may be possible to hold “do-over” primaries in Michigan and Florida. Both states decided to violate Democratic Party rules and hold their contests before the allowed date of February 2.
