Tuesday’s campaign round-up

June 24, 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:

* In the unlikely event there was any confusion or doubt, Bill Clinton’s office issued a statement today, explaining, “President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States.”

* The dispute over convention delegates does not appear to have significantly weakened Barack Obama’s standing in Michigan, where a new poll from Public Policy Polling (D) shows the Democrat leading John McCain by nine, 48% to 39%.

* Speaking of swing state polls, the Miami Herald polled Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties — Florida’s most populous area — and found Obama leading McCain by a whopping 16 points, 46% to 30%. Among Hispanics in South Florida, who have historically voted Republican, Obama leads McCain by five, 40% to 35%.

* Hillary Clinton’s daunting campaign debts continue to pose a daunting challenge for the senator, so Clinton released an online video yesterday asking for her supporters’ assistance. Text alongside the video reads: “By helping us pay off our campaign debt, you’re not just helping Hillary elect a Democratic president and grow our majority in Congress. You’re making it possible for her to work as hard as she can on the issues we care about.”

* The Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown found that Catholic voters, a swing constituency, now “identify as Republicans at a lower rate than at any point since 2000.”

* The past couple of elections, New Mexico has been one of the most evenly-divided states in the country, and was one of only two states to switch from “blue” to “red” in 2004. The Obama campaign is anxious to flip it back, and the early evidence looks encouraging — a new Rasmussen poll shows Obama up by eight over McCain in New Mexico, 47% to 39%.

* Rasmussen also shows Obama with a narrow lead in Pennsylvania, where he leads 46% to 42%. The pollster noted that Obama “has a sizable lead among those voters earning less than $40,000 a year,” a constituency that was allegedly reluctant to back Obama.

* Liz Cheney, a former State Department official who is also the daughter of Vice President Cheney, conceded yesterday that “on the really important issues that face the country,” McCain is advocating Bush/Cheney policies.

* At the Personal Democracy Forum in New York yesterday, McCain aide Mark Soohoo had the unenviable task of defending his boss — a candidate who doesn’t know how to use a computer and doesn’t know what Google is. “John McCain is aware of the Internet,” Soohoo said. “This is a man who has a very long history of understanding on a range of issues.”

* And a note of advice for conservative, anti-abortion congressional candidates: if you paid for your girlfriend’s abortion, do not run on a pro-life platform.

In the unlikely event there was any confusion or doubt, Bill Clinton’s office issued a statement today

The fact that the Big Dog’s office had to issue this one-sentence statement confirms that obviously there was confusion and doubt, at least in some quarters. (Not mine, FYI.)

“John McCain is aware of the Internet,” Soohoo said. “This is a man who has a very long history of understanding on a range of issues.”

Funniest thing said by a campaign spokesperson in…well, months, really. Man, do they never get it over there in McCaintown.

  • Why doesn’t Hillary simply dip into that $109,000,000 she and Bill have made over the past few years and pay off her own campaign debt-most of which was made after she knew she couldn’t win. If she is uncomfortable with the remaining bank balance she can send Bill out to make some more speeches. He loves that stuff anyway-the adoring crowds, the rich pals.

  • Sheeeez,

    a) doubt much of that $109 mil (less taxes and charitable contributions) is liquid
    b) the price tag on a Bill Clinton speech dropped exponentially on June 3

  • “John McCain is aware of the Internet,” Soohoo said.

    And *I* am aware of rocket science. Anybody wanna hire me?

  • Undaunted, Hillary Clinton undauntingly faces the daunting campaign debts that pose a daunting challenge for the undaunted Senator.

    It was a dark and stormy night….

  • Republicans are desperate to stay in power which makes me paranoid. I don’t like living in fear of my government and feeling powerless to protect myself. It is becoming obvious to repubs that Obama will win in a landslide and that the dems will increase their majorities in both houses so what are they to do.

    I fear not only a false flag terrorist attack, but election fraud as well but something else troubles me. This may well be the unspoken maxim…If you can’t defeat then infiltrate.

    This means the democratic party will end up with a slew of republicans running as democrats and calling themselves conservatives. They sneak in the back door like John Barrow D-Georgia being supported by Obama who really isn’t paying attention to Barrow’s record but just that he’s an incumbent dem who will support Obama. He is being challenged in the primary by Regina Thomas a Georgia state senator who is progressive and whose policy stands are in complete alignment with Obama. She’s an afro American in a district that is 70% afro American so how is it that this Bush enabler (who calls democrats “cut and run” politicians on Iraq) is getting support from the dem party?

    Why are dems engaged in the election of republicans within the democratic party? For it was them that enabled key Bush legislation to get passed.
    Republicans are taking comfort in the fact that many of them are getting elected as democrats. Just because it says democrat after the name doesn’t mean they act as one.

  • And a note of advice for conservative, anti-abortion congressional candidates: if you paid for your girlfriend’s abortion, do not run on a pro-life platform.

    LOL!

    I’m sure he grieved and has been scarred for LIFE because of that abortion.

  • Is there any hurry to pay Hillary’s campaign debts? Most of the money she owes herself will be lost if she doesn’t pay it back by the convention, but the rest of the debts can be paid back next year after the 2008 elections are over, right? It seems like losing politicians frequently still have campaign debt years down the road. I have a suspicion this is all about paying Hillary herself back for everything she put in after the nomination was already a lost cause, that would be the only money with a timetable on it.

  • Note to the electorate: Please mail me $20,000,000 dollars and I will also work very hard right along with Hillary to elect Democrats.

  • Danp @11 – thanks, I have tried to evolve!

    Maria, here’s last year’s winner:

    “Gerald began — but was interrupted by a piercing whistle which cost him ten percent of his hearing permanently, as it did everyone else in a ten-mile radius of the eruption, not that it mattered much because for them “permanently” meant the next ten minutes or so until buried by searing lava or suffocated by choking ash — to pee.”

    Sadly, TCB is an excellent writer so little opportunity for such fun.

  • IlludiumPhosdex@9 –

    As well, any obamites, mccainanites, paulists, hillaristas, with a lurking
    distrust, or even friendly curiosity about Hubbard’s wacky cult
    WAY more than you ever wanted to know about how dangerous and silly they are:

    http://www.xenu.net

    Also, open invitation for anyone who wants to help end their campaign of
    abuses and horrors:

    http://www.enturbulation.org
    http://forums.enturbulation.org

    (also anyone curious as to what, how, or why 🙂

    [disclaimer- not a political blog]

  • “By helping us pay off our campaign debt, you’re not just helping Hillary elect a Democratic president and grow our majority in Congress. You’re making it possible for her to work as hard as she can on the issues we care about.”

    Right. Because, having to get a second job (as a dishwasher at McDonald’s?) to retire those debts wouldn’t leave her much time for campaigning.

    I don’t know… Seems to me that, if she continues to be as tone deaf as she has been, she won’t be of much help to Obama.

  • The Rules Committee adopted Obama’s proposal, which was the “compromise” worked out by the Michigan Dems awarding Obama a bunch of votes he didn’t earn and taking votes away from Clinton. Why should Obama supporters or the Michigan Dem Party organization have any hard feelings about what happened? It didn’t happen to them. Obama has picked up some support in Michigan because there are forgive-and-forget Clinton supporters. It doesn’t mean there are no hard feelings over what happened there, nor does it mean that the die-hard Clinton people have warmed up to Obama.

    The comments about Clinton’s campaign debt here today sound a lot like gloating to me. The bulk of the $109 million the Clintons reported on their taxes (about $60 million IIRC) went into the charitable trust they established. They can’t take money out of that. Yes, it is common for politicians to have substantial lingering campaign debt. So what? The amount is related to the scale of a media-heavy 50-state campaign, not Clinton’s profligate spending (Obama outspent her 2 and 3 to 1). So what is the point of this?

    A former president’s clout is based on what he does after he leaves office, not who the sitting president is (or the current party nominee). Bill Clinton has been doing a great deal of charity work, similar to Jimmy Carter, on issues he cares about. His speech-giving pays some bills but it is not what he will be remembered for, nor is his speaking fee the basis for current and future respect for the man and his accomplishments. The hypocrisy of people who pretend to care about humanitarian efforts but then denigrate a person who is now devoting his life to helping others (much as Al Gore is doing) sickens me. Fortunately, both Clintons go on doing what they consider important regardless of the opinions of idiots on the internet.

  • Shorter Hillary: Please sell your bike and send me the money so that I can pay millions to Mark Penn (aka The Engorged Tick) for all the good advice he gave me.

  • Shorter Mary: My horse lost the race, so I’m gonna piss all over the track and you can’t stomp me because I am angry. Waaah.

    Stop protecting, stupid. Stop talking for others. “It doesn’t mean there are no hard feelings… nor does it mean that the die-hard Clinton people have warmed up to Obama.” YOU haven’t warmed up to Obama. Bitter little dolt that you are. Much like the racist hate-mongering of Geraldine Ferraro, you don’t do your ex-candidate, or yourself, any good whenever you open your cyber-piehole. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion, but if you haven’t caught on by now how woefully uneducated and dangerously ignorant your opinion is, please, stand by an X-ray machine for a couple of hours, make sure you can’t reproduce, for all our sake?

  • Oh–I’d forgotten about the Bulwer-Lytton competitions lately. Thanks for the reminder.

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