Thursday’s campaign round-up

April 10, 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:

* Hillary Clinton’s campaign coffers got a $2.5 million boost last night, thanks to an event with Elton John at Radio City Music Hall last night. Tickets for the sold-out event ranged from $125 to $2,300. In remarks that have raised a few eyebrows, John told the audience, “I never cease to be amazed at the misogynistic attitude of some of the people of this country, and I say to hell with it.”

* SurveyUSA isn’t the only pollster showing Clinton’s lead in Pennsylvania getting bigger; InsiderAdvantage now shows Clinton beating Barack Obama by 10, 48% to 38%. Time magazine shows the race closer, with Clinton ahead, 44% to 38%.

* Obama’s polls appear far stronger at the national level, where the Gallup Daily Tracking poll shows him leading Clinton by 10, 51% to 41%. The tracking poll was static all last week, with Obama holding modest, four-point leads, but over the last few days, his lead has expanded. The 10-point margin is Obama’s second largest of the year.

* Both Clinton and Obama picked up one new superdelegate each today. CNN shows Clinton leading among superdelegates overall, 243 to 215.

* Obama won the backing of the American Postal Workers Union yesterday. “Sen. Obama’s message is one of hope and change,” APWU President William Burrus said in a statement. “His message is special, and the timing is right.”

* McCain is doing an event in Brooklyn this afternoon at a company called Windows We Are, Inc. It looks like McCain’s campaign didn’t exactly check the place out first — the company’s employment application form asks applicants if they have kids, are married, and rent or own. I’m pretty sure employment law prohibits these questions. Given that McCain is supposed to be speaking about jobs, this might prove to be a little embarrassing for the campaign (which never seems to do its homework).

* Fortunately, GOP pushback hasn’t stopped Clinton from referencing McCain’s 100-years comments: “At a speech at Hopewell High School in Aliquippa, Pa., Mrs. Clinton praised Mr. McCain, but then added that the Senator ‘has said that it would be alright with him if we kept troops in Iraq for up to 100 years and again yesterday, he basically reiterated his commitment to the course that we are on in Iraq. Well, I don’t agree with that.'”

* Colin Powell had some complimentary words for Obama today on “Good Morning America,” raising speculation about a possible endorsement.

* A poll in Puerto Rico shows Clinton leading Obama by 13 points.

* Asked a couple of months ago if he planned on giving up his Senate seat to run for president full time, McCain said he’d “figure it out” after he got the nomination. And now? “I will go back and think about it, and think about the scenario that you just described,” McCain said in response to a question about possibly stepping aside. (The questioner, CNN reported, suggested the Republican who would replace him “would have an easier time defeating an opposing Democrat in a special run-off election because McCain will be at the top of November’s ballot.”)

* That’s a lot of advertising: “Barack Obama has spent a record breaking $60 million to run more than 100,000 political television ads in pursuit of the Democratic presidential nomination, a new analysis conducted for CNN shows…. Clinton, who trails Obama in fundraising by about $60 million, has run just over 60,000 TV ads in her bid for the White House.”

* And if the race were up to Canadians, Obama would win in a landslide — he enjoys a five-to-one lead over McCain, including a nearly two-to-one lead among Canada’s self-identified conservatives.

Fortunately, GOP pushback hasn’t stopped Clinton from referencing McCain’s 100-years comments…

Every time she brings up anything related to the Iraq war, it only serves to remind me that she didn’t have the foresight to oppose it when it mattered.

I just don’t see how she has any authority on this issue.

At least she focused on McCain and not Obama.

  • In Puerto Rico, Obama has received endorsements from high-profile members of both local parties, including the governor and a candidate for Resident Commissioner. Also, bear in mind that we have seen zero campaign propaganda as of yet.

  • Note to Carlos (2) and non-Spanish speakers: In Spanish, propaganda means the same as advertising. In English it suggests deception.

  • And if the race were up to Canadians, Obama would win in a landslide — he enjoys a five-to-one lead over McCain, including a nearly two-to-one lead among Canada’s self-identified conservatives.

    Once again, our brothers and sisters to the North are ahead of the curve.

  • Note to Carlos (2) and non-Spanish speakers: In Spanish, propaganda means the same as advertising. In English it suggests deception. – Danp

    Which is what most advertising is…. is it not?

  • kanopsis (5) Which is what most advertising is…. is it not?

    True. I just don’t think Carlos intended to suggest that poll numbers might change once the deception begins.

  • I wish we had some polling in Puerto Rico. The unchallenged assumption has been that Caribbean Hispanics will vote like Texas Hispanics. Uh uh.

    Clinton may win PR, but I suspect, from what I’m hearing from politically active puertorriquenos, it won’t be by a huge percentage.

  • And if the race were up to Canadians, Obama would win in a landslide — he enjoys a five-to-one lead over McCain, including a nearly two-to-one lead among Canada’s self-identified conservatives.

    Further proof of where the Civilized Sector is in North America.

  • I don’t think it is illegal to ask if a potential employee is married, rents or owns, or has children. But it is stupid because you are then open to discrimination lawsuits because it is easy to claim the reason you were not hired was because you have (or don’t have) children.

  • Could I be stupider at #7? There is a Puerto Rico poll right here in the roundup.

    TR, bummer about Schweitzer.

  • The republicans really want Obana to run against them and not Clinton. WHY? Because he won’t win against Mccain. The republicans have too much on Obama. He can’t win..However Clinton can and they know it. That is one reason that Fox and CNN bad mouth her all the time. They are the republican stations…..Shirl

  • Every time she brings up anything related to the Iraq war, it only serves to remind me that she didn’t have the foresight to oppose it when it mattered.

    You mean like the majority of Americans?

    Only to die hard liberals does it serve as a reminder. Your kidding yourself if you think it reminds anybody else of that.

  • “When it mattered”? Er, that would be in the Senate where, since he was ensconced there and immediately began his campaign for President, Obama has the same record on Iraq Clinton. -Moron

    I’m so tired of this dumbassery. If you can’t see the difference between voting for on funding bills and initially authorizing the war, then you’re either mind numbingly stupid or willfully ignorant (or you reside in the significant overlap of those communities).

    And I didn’t even say anything about Obama in my comment. I said I wished Clinton had the foresight not to enable Bush to invade Iraq. Do you want to argue that point? Because I’ll take anyone to task who thinks anyone deserves a pass on giving that psychopath the authority to ruin our military, make us less safe, and kill untold hundreds of thousands of people in the process.

    The republicans really want Obana [sic] to run against them and not Clinton. WHY? -shirley axelrod

    What evidence do you have of that? None. The only Republicans blatantly trying to skew the Democratic primary have all done so for Clinton. Just ask your buddy Rush and his moron army.

    Damn the trolls are out in force today.

  • Only to die hard liberals does it serve as a reminder. -DR

    If only die hard liberals are opposed to the war then America is over 70% die hard liberals.

    If it wasn’t for her war vote, Clinton would have swept the nomination, I believe. But she voted for it, and despite your reliance on widespread dementia, I’m not the only one that remembers.

    It would probably be better if she didn’t keep reminding us.

  • John told the audience, “I never cease to be amazed at the misogynistic attitude of some of the people of this country, and I say to hell with it.”

    that’s hilarious in light of john’s well documented misanthropic attitudes towards — well, just about everyone who isn’t female or gay.

  • Clinton was a co-sponsor of net neutrality legislation in the Senate. Obama says he supports it but did nothing. More words without action.

    Despite several recent polls showing Clinton increasing her lead in PA again, both HuffPo and TPM still have headlines saying that her lead is shrinking. At the same time, Digby is defending running an ad showing Clinton as a battering victim. Balance (political neutrality) obviously means different things to different people.

  • Unless they changed the rules when they made Puerto Rico a primary rather than a caucus I believe the Commonwealth is a winner take all primary. Which means Senator Clinton has to hold on to only a 1 point lead at the end. 13% right now sounds pretty good if one supposes she wins two of three next contests and has a chance to get there.

    I have to agree with DR. I foolishly supported this stupid war too, though I hope I realized sometime after the inspectors started to NOT find WMD that the war was a bad idea. That would have been too late too.

    Keith Obermann has a wonderful time with both Clinton and Senator Obama repeating McCan’ts 100 year comment (correctly by the way) and the GOP whinning. Pure bliss.

  • No, Lance, Puerto Rico is not winner take all. One media outlet incorrectly reported it as such, and many others have compounded the error. It’s proportional allocation, like all the others.

  • Mary vomits: At the same time, Digby is defending running an ad showing Clinton as a battering victim.

    Digby on the ad:

    “People keep saying that I have to remove the jarring picture of Hillary in the BagNewsNotes ad on the left. The answer is no. The ad is for a site that deconstructs media images. That picture appeared in the Village Voice this week accompanying an article about MSNBC’s coverage of the Clinton campaign. BagNews asks all kinds of important questions about what that image means in the context of the article and the gut reaction it evokes in people who see it. Click the link and you’ll see.”

    You really don’t have any critical analysis skills at all, do you, Mary? It’s all just blind and mindless flailing with you.

  • I have to agree with DR. I foolishly supported this stupid war too, though I hope I realized sometime after the inspectors started to NOT find WMD that the war was a bad idea. -Lance

    I can’t believe how many people were fooled by a psychopath (who laughed at people he condemned to death in Texas) into a doctrine of preemptive war.The very notion of preemptive war is against what it means to be an American.

    Next time, don’t listen to the gung-ho moron and his followers who want to go to war…listen to all of the other contradictory sources who said Iraq didn’t have WMD.

    We also knew from day one that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11. The fact that the architects of this war were conflating that tragedy with Iraq should have opened everyone’s eyes to their true motives.

    And frankly, it doesn’t matter how many Americans supported an illegal war in Iraq. We should expect our leaders to lead, not get swept up in blind nationalism and retribution. Hillary should have explained to you in 2002 why the war was illegal and why she wouldn’t vote for it.

    Instead, she felt the winds like so many other disappointments and sent our boys and girls to die for the worst reason of all: corporate profit. And we’re all paying the price. Just because a lot of otherwise good people made the same mistake is no reason to forgive any of them for it. They certainly haven’t atoned.

    So forgive me if I don’t think she has any authority on this issue. All she’s doing is checking her weathervane.

  • Windows We Are, Inc.? Is that a lame play on Windows R us?

    On the link in “Please click here to download our job employment form in MS Word format”, they misspelled “Job Application”.

    What twits.

  • Let’s just make a simple rule: Any time anyone with the last name Bush asks you for anything, say, to borrow a dollar, or authorization to illegally invade a soverign nation to appease the country’s need for retribution after an unrelated terrorist attack, you just say ‘no, Ray.’

    Amazing and shameful it took this war for people to open their eyes to who Bush really was.

  • Obama is our Savior. Barak and Reverend Wright are Right, God D*** america. Now is the time to rally around Barak and Michelle and make them proud! No more so called elections where typical white people vote! And news flash america, Barak is right, your typical white american is a racist! Obama will apologize to our Muslim brothers for arrogant american policies of hate and slavery. Only Obama can forgive an evil nation founded on slavery. We gave cash payments to those Japanese who survived our uprovoked and vicious attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Reparations now for all Africans!

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