Thursday’s campaign round-up

March 27, 2008

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* At a townhall meeting in North Carolina yesterday, Barack Obama was asked about the role that Jesus and his teachings have had in the senator’s life. “I’m a Christian,” Obama said. “What that means for me is that I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins, and his grace and his mercy and his power, through him, I can achieve everlasting life.” He added, “I think it’s very important to think that you do not have to have the same faith as me to be a moral person – there are a lot of Jewish people who are as moral, or more moral than I am, there are a lot of Muslims who are decent kind people. I don’t think they are any less children of God.”

* Bill Clinton said yesterday the Obama and Clinton camps should “just saddle up and have an argument.” Obama told reporters he didn’t have a problem with that, but he added that one of his goals in politics was still “to see if we can change the tenor a little bit so it’s more productive.” Obama said he agreed with Clinton’s point about the intensity of politics, saying it was “a contact sport,” but emphasized he didn’t want to see this go too far. “There’s a line that can be crossed where you stop focusing on the American people’s business and it just becomes about sport.”

* Obama’s electability argument got a bit of a boost this morning when a new Public Policy Institute of California poll showed Obama leading McCain in a general-election match-up by nine points (49% to 40%), while Clinton leads McCain by three (46% to 43%).

* Joe Lieberman’s support for McCain doesn’t appear to be especially helpful in Connecticut, with a new Quinnipiac poll showing McCain trailing both Dems in general-election match-ups in the state. Obama leads McCain by 17 (52% to 35%), while Clinton leads McCain by three (45% to 42%).

* The first Mitt Romney sighting in a while: “In their first campaign swing as allies, Romney planned to meet McCain at the airport in Salt Lake City and appear with the likely Republican nominee at a fundraiser. The two then were traveling to Denver for a second fundraiser.”

* The NYT’s Nicholas Kristof makes a comparison that the Clinton campaign won’t like at all: “If Mrs. Clinton can run a high-minded, civil campaign and rein in her proxies, then she has every right to continue through the next few primaries, and the Democrats might even benefit from the bolstered attention and turnout. But if the brawl continues, then she and her husband may be remembered by many people who long admired them as having the same effect on Mr. Obama this November that Ralph Nader had on Al Gore in 2000. Do the Clintons really want to risk becoming the Naders of 2008?”

* Despite all we’ve seen, Republican donors will still pay to be in the same room as the president: “President Bush this year has already raised nearly half the amount of money for the Republican Party and candidates he did all of last year, in a role in which the lame-duck leader still excels despite his low job-approval ratings. Mr. Bush, after a $2 million fundraiser Tuesday night at the Virginia home of a finance director for Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign, had raised $30.1 million this year for various Republican Party groups and candidates, compared with $66.6 million in 2007, according to numbers provided by the Republican National Committee.”

* Nice to see this get at least a little attention: “A group of liberal bloggers filed a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, saying Sen. John McCain is breaking campaign finance law. The McCain campaign reported spending $58 million this election cycle, which is a few million more than what is permitted for candidates who commit to public financing in the primaries. Led by bloggers at Firedoglake and DailyKos, the group submitted a complaint to the FEC on Tuesday, and is asking for more signatures online to be added to another, larger complaint.”

* Is Bob Barr going to run for president as a Libertarian?

* And Clinton seems to have settled on a line to deflect attention from her disproven claims about her 1996 Bosnia trip. “I’m a human being. I made a mistake and owned up to it,” Hillary told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren. “But that’s not what people talk to me about. When I’m out campaigning … people want to talk about the economy and health care, and they want to know what are you going to do to get fix our country and get it back on track, and help my family and me.”

And the new NBC/ WALL STREET JOURNAL POLL also demonstrates that Obama is perceived by 60 percent of Americans as the one who can unite this country..higher than McBush, higher than Clinton. Remember this new crap being peddled by the Corporate Media about whether a ‘LIBERAL’ can unite this country or not .. trying to argue that they can not ? Well, check out this result in that poll. Wonder now if those Corporate Media pigs will do a follow up on their hit piece and admit that ‘yep, a liberal can indeed unite this country’ ……… how many wanna takes bets on this ? sure …….

  • Of course people pay to see Dubya– with regular circus freakshows no longer politically-correct to operate, people need an outlet to see retarded people doing dumb things!

  • “I’m a Christian,” Obama said. “What that means for me is that I believe Jesus Christ died for my sins, and his grace and his mercy and his power, through him, I can achieve everlasting life.”

    So he has a rich fantasy life?

  • * Nice to see this get at least a little attention: “A group of liberal bloggers filed a complaint to the Federal Election Commission, saying Sen. John McCain is breaking campaign finance law.

    Question: whom is going to enforce it? Thanks to Barack Obama, who initially blocked a vote on the nominees not long after John Edwards stated he needed to use public money (and knowing at some point blocking these nominees would hurt Edwards), and Harry Reid, who refuses to call for a vote, there is no FEC. Had there been one, there wouldn’t be an issue since McCain would have filed all the right papers.

    And before anyone says it, it is up to only one person, Senate Majority Leader Reid, to call for the votes, nobody else. Acting like a spoiled brat, he wouldn’t even recess the Senate in order to let President Bush get the FEC functioning (with Kwame Kilpatrick, the spoiled brat theme is running rampant in the Democrat Party). He is more interested in playing games than in having agencies do what they do.

    I hope that McCain laughs in Howlin’ Howie Dean’s face for this “complaint”, considering it was Obama, noted for disenfranchising voters, who started all this against one political opponent, and is trying to make hay against another. Until such time that Reid actually wants to work for the American people instead of the Democrat Party, McCain can do what he wants. Even if the FEC does eventually have enough commissioners to do what it does, there’s no way McCain can be held liable for what he’s doing, since it was Reid who kept the agency from functioning.

    McCain did file the papers. But the FEC can’t do anything about it thanks to Reid (and Obama). I read Hamsher’s stupid complaint. She mentions a letter FEC Chairman David Mason sent to McCain after the latter announced his intent to withdraw from public funding. Mason stated McCain couldn’t withdraw because there isn’t a functioning FEC to formally say he can. But in reality, Mason can’t formally say anything either for the same reason; his letter to McCain is tantamount to being a violation of the law requiring a quorum of four commissioners to do anything.

    This is all Reid’s and Obama’s fault. Nothing more, nothing less.

    I would also add that the DNC’s action constitutes election fraud per Title 42 of the U.S. Code. It is a fact that because Reid, a member of the DNC, is single-handedly holding up the confirmation of the FEC nominees, and not allowing a quorum at the FEC to rule on McCain’s perfectly legal and timely request to withdraw from public funding, the blame for this lies exclusively with DNC member Reid. The DNC attempting this phony “legal” challenge against McCain, knowing full well where the fault lies, is nothing more than the DNC trying to illegally kick McCain out of the Presidential race after getting properly nominated by voters, not “super-delegates”, during the Republican primary elections.

  • How is it Reid’s fault, much less Obama’s, that after years of Republicans insisting that every individual on earth was “entitled” to an “up or down vote” the Republicans have hypocritically changed their stripes and now want the FEC voted on solely as a package? Advice and consent of the Senate means for each nominee: if the Senate wants to consent to everyone but Van Spokovsky, that is their right. It is the Republicans who are playing games, trying to deny the Democrats — which is to say, the will of the people who gave them a majority — their ability to do their jobs.

  • SteveIL said

    **************

    this repiglican is like all repiglicans: black is white, white is black, up is down, down is up ………. pigs like these, all repiglican pigs, simply can not admit that they are wrong and and a result they go thru one perverse distortion of ‘logic’ after another to encase themselves so that don’t have to admit that , in fact, they are simply fucking wrong ….

  • Danp (#5), not only am I not being insincere, it is absolute fact that the only person who can call for votes on the Senate floor is the Majority Leader. Paul Kiel at TPMmuckraker is doing exactly what I said guys like him would do: taking his marching orders from Reid and only present Reid’s side. The facts are this: Reid hasn’t called for a vote to end debate or to confirm or reject the FEC nominees. He could do that the next time the Senate is in session, regardless of the positions of the Republicans. Reid refuses to do so.

    McCain filed his request in a timely and legal manner, and had there been a functioning FEC, this wouldn’t be an issue. But there is no FEC right now. And all thanks to Reid.

    Spin it any way you like, this is how it is.

  • It seems to be forgotten — after getting a brief amount of blog-play a month or so ago — but the FEC is just one of a large number of agencies which are below staff because Bush either has not sent up nominees, or has sent up unconfirmable ones.

  • Frankly, it really doesn’t matter that the FEC isn’t operational right now.

    The fact is, McCain played tricks with the system. Even if the FEC was functional, there isn’t any ‘teeth’ to their capabilities to do anything about it before the election. The FEC would find that McCain violated their rules, he would appeal it to the courts, and the lawyers would play delaying tactics for a year or two.

    In the end, like usually happens when campaigns violate laws on spending/fundraising/etc., the McCain campaign would end up paying a fine– even if a few hundred thousand or something, relatively paltry considering what’s at stake. (Hey, if I was running for President, and you told me that all that was standing in my way was some measely $500K fine– which my Campaign would pay for, not me!– I would violate the rules too…)

    So, the problem is not that anyone is blocking the FEC, the problem is that even a functional FEC would not have been able to effectively block McCain from breaking the Law which he helped write…

  • Why is Hillary doing interviews on FOX News?

    Her familiarity and seeming comfort with the right wing press lately is alarming.

    She’s quickly becoming the candidate of the Blue Dogs, even before the general. One more reason to dislike what she has become in this race…

  • “I’m a human being. I made a mistake and owned up to it”

    No, Hillary—you lied. You lied to the American people, repeatedly, for more than a month on that one item alone. Go ask your god FOX to forgive you. I will not—and neither will the American People.

    And no, SteveIL, McCain used the public financing as collateral for a loan. He cannot legally withdraw from the agreement. Blowing sh** out of your mouth (or silly words out of your a$$—one can never really tell with a troll these days) does nothing to change that fact.

    Also add to the fact that your “species” is responsible for blocking the vote on each individual nomine because they want von SpewBoy and his vote-caging expertise on the commission. They’re demanding an all-or-none vote—and it just isn’t going to happen, little one. Your party’s administration—and your party—begins its extinction event in less than 10 months.

    Deal with it—and realize that a wholesale housecleaning begins on January 20, 2009.

    At precisely 12:01 PM EST.

  • SteveIL, we’ll put Hans von Spakovsky on the FEC when you agree to put Bernie Sanders on SCOTUS. Sound good?

  • Speaking of election fraud, did anybody read about the Democrat governor of Puerto Rico being indicted on these charges?

  • SteveIL (8): Ried can call for a cloture vote, but what good will that do? If the vote is going to vote on all four FEC appointees together, the Dems will vote no. If it is to vote on them one at a time, the Reps will vote no. Either way you don’t get 60 votes, and everybody including you know that! McCain cannot choose to drop out of public funding. He needs the FEC to approve it. Mason said he would only issue advisories, and that is exactly what he did. You know this as well. Making the arguments you do knowing this makes you insincere, and quite transparently as well.

  • “There’s a line that can be crossed where you stop focusing on the American people’s business and it just becomes about sport.”

    See? He did mention Hillary.

    “I’m a human being. I made a mistake and owned up to it,” Hillary told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren.

    Only after physical evidence of the lie was broadcast multiple times. And if you have it in your prepared remarks, Madam Empress-Wannabe, it’s not a “mistake.”

  • The FEC would find that McCain violated their rules, he would appeal it to the courts, and the lawyers would play delaying tactics for a year or two. And end up exonerating McCain on all counts because the FEC wasn’t able to do anything, thanks to Reid.

    Also add to the fact that your “species” is responsible for blocking the vote on each individual nomine because they want von SpewBoy and his vote-caging expertise on the commission. That is funny. Von Spakovsky was a recess appointment to be an FEC commissioner during the election that saw the Dems take both Houses. Guess he didn’t work his “scary magic”, did he?

    The Republicans aren’t blocking this. Reid refuses to bring the nominees up for any kind of vote. Hell, they could be rejected just so Bush can nominate four others, or at least two others. Reid won’t even do that.

  • SteveIL– “And end up exonerating McCain on all counts because the FEC wasn’t able to do anything, thanks to Reid.”

    Actually, no. Because they aren’t functional, rulings in place stay in place. Therefore, since McCain entered their system, he can’t legally leave it unless they grant him a waiver. No quorum, no waiver, period.

    Thus, having a non-functional FEC is actually, long-term, almost ‘better’ on the legal side, since, even if he hadn’t played games with the system by using his enrollment as collateral for a loan, he wouldn’t have been able to just withdraw from the system…

    And Reid knows this– that’s a damn good reason to NOT let the FEC start functioning again with a stacked deck of crooks– those Bush cronies would likely grant the waiver, and ignore McCain’s blatant violations.

  • Danp (#16), Mason said he would only issue advisories, and that is exactly what he did. You know this as well. Making the arguments you do knowing this makes you insincere, and quite transparently as well. That may be true, but Hamsher is using it in her complaint. The DNC is basing part of their legal argument on this letter, and the fact that the FEC can’t consider it thanks to one of their members. That’s fraud on the part of the DNC.

    What’s amusing about the stupidity of the DNC complaint is that it states McCain sent withdrawal letters in Feb., 2007. They attached copies of the letters. Both are dated Feb., 2008. I would assume this is just a mistake, although unless corrected, just adds to the idiocy on the part of the DNC.

  • Actually, no. Because they aren’t functional, rulings in place stay in place. Good luck with that one in the courts.

    By the way, if all four do somehow get confirmed, there will be three Republicans and three Democrats as FEC commissioners. Are you saying the two Democrats Bush nominated are Bush cronies?

  • 21. On March 27th, 2008 at 1:27 pm, SteveIL said:
    Are you saying the two Democrats Bush nominated are Bush cronies?

    Are you saying Democrats CAN’T be Bush cronies? I mean, I can think of one off the top of my head.

  • “Question: whom is going to enforce it?”

    This talking point must have come straight from the Deciderator, as it sounds eerily like “rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?”

  • The Republicans aren’t blocking this. Reid refuses to bring the nominees up for any kind of vote.

    So are you uninformed or just a liar? There really are no other options.

    Reid has tried to move this to the floor for “any” kind of vote – specifically, one vote per nominee. McConnell has threatened to filibuster unless the FEC nominees are voted on as a package.

    Now, you may speak a different language than I do, but that sure looks to me like (a) a Democratic effort to have some kind of vote and (b) Republicans blocking it. Unless your friends on the right have told you and only you that they are dropping their resistance to allowing votes on individual nominees, in which case Benen just got one of the better scoops in CBR history.

  • Steve’sILL – Reid is doing a great job not allowing Bush hacks from being put in place anywhere he can. That’s what Bush gets for his bullshit choice to put Bushies in important positions where they Heil to their commander in chief, the good of the American people be damned. Reid knows that Bush will take any chance he gets to place yet another of his cronies, so no more recess. Sad that he has to resort to this, but good job, Reid! It obviously hasn’t bothered your beloved Bush enough for him to find suitable people for *any* of the empty posts. It’s either his way or the highway, so highway it is. Good to know it’s stuck in your craw, though. I love it. 😀

  • Steve’sILL – Reid is doing a great job not allowing Bush hacks to be put in place anywhere he can. That’s what Bush gets for his bullshit choice to put Bushies in important positions where they Heil to their commander in chief, the good of the American people be damned. Reid knows that Bush will take any chance he gets to place yet another of his cronies, so no more recess. Sad that he has to resort to this, but good job, Reid! It obviously hasn’t bothered your beloved Bush enough for him to find suitable people for *any* of the empty posts. It’s either his way or the highway, so highway it is. Good to know it’s stuck in your craw, though. I love it. 😀

  • Not only is Stevarino laughably wrong about responsibility for the dearth of FEC commissioners, he’s wrong about enforcement. When the FEC doesn’t respond to filed protests, the filers can initiate civil suit.

  • kwrob,

    The Limbaugh story is mostly myth. He came out with that story after it was exposed that some republicans had been doing just the opposite of what Limbaugh now claims. Republicans have been voting in large numbers for Barack Obama in the DEMOCRATIC open primaries, and gaming the DEMOCRATIC caucuses from day one.

    Limbaugh is using reverse psychology on you to cover up. As always, they think you people are all just stupid peasants, and cash COWS! to be duped, and used as cannon fodder.

    The REPUBLICANS have been trying to choose the weakest DEMOCRATIC candidate to run against in November. And also to prevent the possibility of a Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama DREAM TEAM match up.

    I am really surprised the media has not picked this fact up with all their experts, and analyst. It’s as plain as the nose on your face. This is why Obama has mostly only been able to win the little red state caucuses, and primaries. And no big blue states primaries.

    If Obama is the democratic nominee for the national election in November he will be slaughtered. Because the Republican vote cheating help will suddenly evaporate.

    Hillary Clinton has actually already won the democratic nomination if you remove the republican vote fraud. Does this really surprise anyone after the 2000 and 2004 elections. 🙁

    They have no respect for the constitution, or the democratic process. They have no SHAME!!!

    jacksmith…

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