Friday’s campaign round-up

April 25, 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:

* Polls out of Indiana continue to point to a close Democratic presidential primary. Selzer & Co., a regional pollster, has Obama leading Clinton by three, 41% to 38%. Research 2000 shows Obama with an even smaller lead, 48% to 47%.

* Obama picked up another superdelegate yesterday, when Rep. David Wu of Oregon endorsed the senator. Wu cited Obama’s stand against the Iraq war “from the very beginning.”

* Speaking of endorsements, Obama also picked up the support yesterday of 43 North Carolina mayors, mayors pro tem, and former mayors.

* After John McCain suggested yesterday he was open to tearing down the Ninth Ward of New Orleans, devastated by Hurricane Katrina, Hillary Clinton slammed him for it. “Sen. McCain said he might want to tear down the Ninth Ward instead of rebuilding it,” she said while campaigning in North Carolina. “But I went to the Ninth Ward after Katrina and met with people there and saw the destruction and I saw the resilience in their eyes and they deserve our help to rebuild and regain their lives and their homes.”

* McCain was asked to respond yesterday to John Hagee’s comments about Hurricane Katrina being divine retribution for a gay pride parade. McCain called his supporter’s comments “nonsense.” In fact, he used the word eight times, apparently for emphasis.

* McCain may be the Republican presidential nominee, but he apparently has no influence with state Republican party officials. (“If John McCain can’t stand up to the North Carolina GOP swift-boat freaks, how can he stand up to al Qaeda?”)

* The Center for Responsive Politics reported yesterday that the Clinton campaign’s debt “at the end of March was bigger than it appeared because she didn’t list the $5 million she loaned herself.” I guess that cash infusion on Tuesday night will come in handy.

* As of next week, Obama will be running campaign ads in all of the remaining states and Puerto Rico.

* Rasmussen asked Minnesotans about their general election preferences. Obama led McCain by 15 points, while Clinton led McCain by five.

* The Hill reported today, “Donors, activists and members of Congress who backed former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) are flocking to Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). This and the fact that Obama is likely to win the North Carolina primary could prompt Edwards to endorse Obama — a move that could burnish the front-runner’s credentials with blue-collar, white voters, who are part of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) base.”

* Fred Thompson doesn’t want to be John McCain’s running mate.

* And actor Martin Sheen, who campaigned for Howard Dean four years ago, has announced his support for Obama.

McCain may be the Republican presidential nominee, but he apparently has no influence with state Republican party officials.

This should be the message every time they pull this repudiate-but-still-air crap: If McCain’s own party won’t listen to him, how can he effectively govern the country?

  • I remember hearing someplace that the reason Fred thompson started making noises about running for President was so that he could end up as VP. People started supporting his bid and it forced his hand.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if Fred is still trying to become the VP

  • Fred would like to comment on this but it’s his nap time so he’ll get back to us later. Maybe.

  • neil wilson: “I remember hearing someplace that the reason Fred thompson started making noises about running for President was so that he could end up as VP.”

    Turns out it was just bowel vapors.

    One thing that’s bugged me about Hagee’s comments about New Orleans: is it true that a gay parade was scheduled that week? Further, is it true that God typically uses hurricanes to disrupt gay parades? Or is it God’s plan to make gays migrate to disaster-prone areas like Miami Beach, San Francisco, and Texas trailer parks?

  • CB wrote:“nonsense.” In fact, he used the word eight times, apparently for emphasis.

    LOL! Nice touch.I hope this is a sign that his irritability level is going up. Get “passionate” John, my friend.

  • Alex Koppelman’s comment on the North Carolina ad (from Salon):

    The ad is exactly the kind of thing everyone’s been expecting the right to do to smear Obama if and when he gets the Democratic nomination. But John McCain is publicly against these kinds of negative ads. So he — and the Republican National Committee — condemn the ad and ask the state party not to run it.

    Here’s where it starts getting almost unbearably meta. See, as a result of the controversy, the ad is news. And so the media starts playing and discussing the spot ad infinitum, all the while noting that McCain says the ad is very, very bad and that, really, if his party’s nomination had given him any power whatsoever within his party he’d totally stop this. (But he won’t retaliate against those who produced and ran the ad if he becomes president.)

    The ad first became news on Wednesday. On Thursday, the story continued because of confusion over whether the state party would in fact be pulling the ad — a McCain advisor said it would, and then the state party denied that, saying in a statement the ad will run as planned. Of course, once the ad actually does start running next week, it’ll be news again. And when some television stations refuse to run the ad — one already has — Republicans will get to complain about liberal media bias, and the discussion of the spot will go on even longer.

    We don’t know whether all this was planned in advance. But considering that this has turned out to be an unconditional messaging victory for the Republicans, if it was planned, whoever came up with the idea deserves a big Christmas bonus this year.

  • Republican Strategy: (1) help Hillary Clinton secure the Democratic Nominee; (2) McCain to actively try to win over African Americans that the Clintons have alienated, so that they will vote for McCain in November! So that is why you see McCain actively seeking out the support of African-Americans now, hoping to woo them back into the fold of the Republican party while, they smile in glee as the Clintons alienate them by their kitchen sink strategy. The Republicans in their plan to help Hillary make Barack look unelectable through their surrogates, Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan and others, continually ask their watching public to sow doubts, “do we really know who this guy is?” (ever after Barack wrote two very personal autobiographical books); they ask: “why can’t this guy seal the deal?”, then they continually bring up Rev. Wright, as if Rev. Wright’s statements were Barack’s. Do they ask of Clinton, “Was it not Rev. Wright you called on for prayer and support after the Monica Lewinsky scandal and invited him to the White House?” No, they rather ask with indignance, “why did he Barack) sit there for 20 years” though Rev. Wright’s 9-11 comments were not 20 years ago but five. Then they praise Hillary — saying how smart she is, how tough; how she can attract blue-collar white workers and dismiss all of the white support Barack gets in every election. They even praise her for her ability to drink down shots and for her acting ability to turn herself into a working-class girl who can shoot ducks behind a cottage (possibly another Bosnian fabrication) — in otherwords for her performances and lies. Chris Matthews calls it impressive! In otherwords, they do not reward truth and authenticity in our politicians but how well they can act which has nothing to do with the true governing of a society.

    Their plan and plotting is to get Hillary elected Democratic nominee, then unleash the “arsenal of weapons” they have against her and Bill, for they have been Planning this for a long time; then defeat her in the Fall with the very help of African-Americans that the Clintons have alienated and that McCain is so eagerly trying to impress at this time; — beautiful though Machiavellian!

    Let’s be clear, Barack is fighting a Two-headed Giant: the Clintons as a unity for they are one, the Republican Party: McCain, Cable Television: Joe Scarborough, Pat Buchanan, Wolf Blitzer Rush Limbaugh (we need to have Barack bloodied up) & Fox News — a Mighty Giant indeed. Hillary actively seeks their support to help her beat Barack but they will turn against her like a mighty sword if she was to become the Democratic nominee come fall.
    It is not easy to overcome this Mighty Giant of Special Interest Money & Corporate Greed, but what we can do, is to identify who they are and not give them anymore Power. Turn off TV shows which are disingenuous and have their own political agenda that is not in keeping with the welfare of the people, stop buying their books or newspapers, write more articles about the ways they try to divide us and fool us, write/call and email them and their producers our objections to the way they are reporting non-news, gossip, and trying to brainwash us for their own continued domination of the masses. Maybe we will have to write their sponsors and complain — hit them in their pocket book. We all have to get involved in this effort. We can no longer let them distract us or divide us. We too have power!
    This effort by the people, for the people, is the one kink in the armour of this Mighty Giant. We the people are finally waking up and seeing through their lies, distortion and domination, and we will nominate Barack Obama, the People’s Champion. I say people because there are some disinfected Republicans and Independents who are finally waking up to the fact that under Republican rule this country has suffered, while big business and big money has prospered. And, in truth, we are all one, we all share the same Red blood. It is a sad fact, that we cannot recognize America anymore. They have hi-jacked our television with exploitation of sex and violence to our children, then they want to try them like adults, when they are only children and are trying to find their way. Dispicable! People are waking up to this and they are ready to get their power back, their jobs back, their very way of life back, which is the American way: peace, brotherhood, prosperity for all, not just a special few.

    Then we have the Clintons , who were once the bedrock of the Democratic Party, or so we thought, who we have since learned that they will bed with anyone (Rush Limbaugh, Richard Mellon Scaife), say anything, do anything (fuel a racial and gender divide and push us back 50 years), put on any kind of Act to achieve their power again, it seems for powers sake! Does anyone really believe that Mark Penn is not vitally active in their Campaign though publically they say otherwise and does our corporate Media expose this myth? Sadly not! Unfortunately, the Clintons have lost their way, blinded by power and ambition. — This is not the kind of Political Couple we want to lead America to a more holistic place, as we can no longer trust them to be truthful or authentic or have the best interest of the people at heart!

  • If there’s any advantage to Clinton staying in the race, it is that it is rasiing Obama’s name recognition much more than a simple campaign might. Lots of free publicity there, except some of it is bad.

  • “The Center for Responsive Politics reported yesterday that the Clinton campaign’s debt “at the end of March was bigger than it appeared because she didn’t list the $5 million she loaned herself.”

    Am I the only one suspicious of the fact that her financial condition at the beginning of April didn’t help her with fundraising, but a primary, where she did no better than expected raised her ten million in a day. It just seems to me that the Clintons have had so many fundraising scandals, that there is little reason to think they have learned anything but more evasive methods of laundering money.

  • Grumpy (#6)

    It wasn’t so much a parade as an annual festival called Southern Decadence which has taken place every Labor Day weekend since 1972, with the exception of that year. Funny that ‘god’ would need to take 30-odd years to show its wrath.

    It’s easy to see why religious idiots would conflate the two, since Katrina hit a week or so before the festival was to start.

  • 12. Danp said: Am I the only one suspicious of the fact that her financial condition at the beginning of April didn’t help her with fundraising, but a primary, where she did no better than expected raised her ten million in a day.

    Normally I would be very suspicious, but I heard somewhere that night that it was the first time she had asked during a victory speech for people to go to her website and contribute. Which sounds a bit desperate actually, but also could explain all the donations.

  • So, not surprising, but the media is pouncing on the Moyers-Wright interview.

    Andrea Mitchell and others on MSNBC havce in particular honed in on Wright saying Obama did what he had to do in the Philly race speech, and spinning it as if that’s an admission from Wright that Obama didn’t mean what he said.

    If you look at the full context, it’s absolute bullshit. Moyers was the one who framed it in terms of Obama “having to say” certain things, and Wright simply responds in kind.

    BILL MOYERS:
    ….And, yet, he, in that speech at Philadelphia, had to say some hard things about you. How did those words…how did it go down with you when you heard Barack Obama say those things?

    REVEREND WRIGHT:
    It went down very simply. He’s a politician, I’m a pastor. We speak to two different audiences. And he says what he has to say as a politician. I say what I have to say as a pastor. But they’re two different worlds. I do what I do. He does what politicians do. So that what happened in Philadelphia where he had to respond to the sound bytes, he responded as a politician.

    Goddamn moron media. Feel free to drop a line: letters@msnbc.com

  • I find it suprising that since March 4 Senator Clinton has only picked up 5 more delagates than Senator Obama. In all of these big state and small state contests she has five more. So I asked myself, “self why is every state Senator Clinton’s last must win?” By March 4 Senator Obama was leading in delegates and since then Senator Clinton has decreased his lead by 5. This doesn’t really seem to be a contest, more like gratitude towards Senator Clinton and Former President Clinton. The only problem with that is that the “cloak” of gratitude has begun to chaffe and become increasingly iriitating.

  • If McCain’s plan is to woo black voters alienated by Clinton, why is he talking about tearing down the 9th Ward in New Orleans?

    In your desperation to make everything about Clinton sleazy, you imply that being in debt is somehow illegal, improper or shameful. Debt is normal in a campaign since cash flow waxes and wanes, not necessarily in rhythm with expenses. Many campaigns end in debt which is repaid later via additional fundraisers. You all should know this. Trying to make an issue out of something that is normal for all campaigns is pretty pathetic, in my opinion. Obama doesn’t have $5 million to loan himself, but are you sure he wouldn’t be supporting his own election if he did?

    You can’t tell whether something is a push poll or not simply by the questions asked. It is common for campaigns to try out wording of statements and see how various issues play with voters, or how effective different choices of phrasing might be. What makes something a push poll is not whether it is biased or not. The criterion is whether it is addressed to a large number of potential voters, instead of the handful used in research. Since this person doesn’t know how many calls were being made or to whom, he has no way to tell whether it is push-polling or research. Further, in many states, taping someone without their knowledge and permission is illegal. Isn’t doing something illegal to another person just as wrong as push-polling (assuming it was a push poll)? Apparently not.

  • McCain called his supporter’s comments “nonsense.” In fact, he used the word eight times, apparently for emphasis.

    As Instaputz points out, maniacal repetition is McCain’s “tell.” Or one of them, anyway.

  • Mary (17): I’m guessing youv’e never received a push poll. It starts out sounding like a research poll, but before long, if you started hearing questions like, “Would you vote for a candidate whose campaign chief is being paid to lobby against the candidate’s position?” and then “Do you think having tea with dignitaries constitutes international crisis management?”, you would know it’s not research.

  • Danp — I repeat, you cannot tell whether something is a push poll unless you know how many people were called. This is less likely to be a push poll because it is coming from Clinton’s new staff guy, not more likely, since a push poll takes considerable resources and need not be done by the people setting policy for the campaign, whose time is better spent on other things. Push polling is farmed out. The content of the questions is not what makes this a push poll, since it is also part of campaign research to see how such questions and how specific phrases and wordings might influence prospective voters in speeches or mailers. A push poll and a regular poll can and frequently will sound exactly the same. What makes a push poll a push poll is that it is administered to large numbers of voters and the responses are never analyzed. On the receiving end, you wouldn’t know how many people are getting the calls or what they are doing with the data.

    How do I know this? I heard an extensive interview on XM’s POTUS ’08 about the differences between polling and push polling, with a guest who was an expert in polling, not associated with either campaign and who had no vested interest. This was quite a while ago (when there were still other candidates), not in the context of this current issue about Clinton.

  • Sorry Mary. I’ve worked in the legitimate survey industry. Dan’s right, you are wrong. If it pushes in one direction (or makes you feel like your intelligence is being questioned), it’s a push poll.

  • Somebody needs to get off her fat ass and actually look up the definition of “push poll” if she’s planning on being a marginally convincing fake professor.

    Sheesh. This chica is an embarrassment to all of us ersatz academics. Some of us have standards.

  • In your desperation to make everything about Clinton sleazy, you imply that being in debt is somehow illegal, improper or shameful.

    Hiding debt over and over in reports to the FEC is improper and shameful, if not illegal. (If it’s a bona fide mistake her peeps keep making over and over, then it’s campaign incompetence–tell me again why we’re supposed to think she’ll run a better executive branch than she does a campaign? It’s not like this is her first time around the campaign block.)

    Stiffing numerous vendors who provided you with goods and services in good faith is improper and shameful.

    Being more than $15M in debt with probably only $10M on hand (assuming she spent every dime she had as of March 31 plus everything she cobbled together April 1-21 on Pennsylvania)…well, that’s hilarious. Seen Obama’s cash reserve lately? You know, the guy who outspent her so hugely in PA and still can’t keep up with the contributions pouring in?

    She doesn’t have the support to continue this quixotic quest. After Indiana and North Carolina, she won’t have the money, either.

  • One of the commentators on Diane Rehm today made the point that a silver lining of the prolonged democratic primary is that Obama now has political organizations in all fifty states. That could potentially be a very significant advantage in the fall, couldn’t it?

  • It will be a VERY big advantage for the Dems for so many voters in so many states to feel as though their vote really mattered in the primary– record-high numbers of people are now seriously invested in the race. The problem is when things get too ugly and vicious between people who are supposed to be on the same side, there is a very real threat to party unity. The sooner we can get onto getting behind one of them and fighting against McCain the better off we’ll be.

    My hope is that if Obama wins both states on May 6th then the supers can declare en masse, Edwards could endorse Obama, and Hillary can respectfully step down– if she doesn’t the “drop out” chorus is going to be VERY hard to ignore.

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