Thursday’s political round-up

March 22, 2007

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:

* John and Elizabeth Edwards are expected to make an important announcement about the former senator’s presidential campaign in just a couple of minutes. I don’t want to engage in baseless speculation, but all reports indicate Edwards may leave the campaign trail, at least temporarily, because of his wife’s health. I’ll have a full report soon.

* The creator of the controversial YouTube clip, “Big Sister,” which incorporated Hillary Clinton into Apple’s famous 1984 ad, has been identified. The video was made by Philip de Vellis, who worked at Blue State Digital, a company created by members of Howard Dean’s Internet Team that currently manages Barack Obama’s online presence. Obama’s campaign insisted yesterday that it knew nothing of the ad, and Blue State Digital explained in a statement that de Vellis made the clip independently and without the company’s knowledge. He talked about the ordeal yesterday at The Huffington Post.

* The Politico reports that Republican presidential candidates Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney are skipping the National Urban League’s annual conference this summer, and league president Marc Morial wants them to know he’s not happy about it. “We’re sending notice, not just to the Republicans, but to all the candidates, that you’re not going to ignore us,” said Morial, the former New Orleans mayor who has led the black civil rights organization since 2003.

* Now that Newt Gingrich has acknowledged his well-established adultery, he now believes the personal lives of candidates should be excluded from the campaign. How convenient. I seem to recall Gingrich having a different standard in the 1990s.

* And the New York state Assembly overwhelmingly approved a measure yesterday to move up the state’s presidential primary from March 4 to February 5. California chose the same day for its primary earlier this month. New Jersey, Florida, and Illinois are expected to do the same.

Slight correction on Florida. An article in this morning’s Sun-Sentinel give an earlier date.

Tallahassee – Hoping to muscle Florida into a pre-eminent role in picking next year’s Democratic and Republican presidential candidates, the state House voted Wednesday to leapfrog almost all the other states and set a Jan. 29 primary, with an option to go even earlier.

  • Newt is a real piece of work.

    from another post in a less appropriate thread:

    Newt Gingrich says that if/when Democrats finally put an end to Bush’s disastrous war, after that if there isn’t “a brilliant success”, then the whole mess belongs to the Democrats.

    It’s like a drunk stumbling out of a car that he crashed, and threatening the tow-truck driver that he’s going to sue if his car isn’t in perfect condition when it gets to the wrecking yard.

    “My argument is if they want to end the war, then take the responsibility,” Gingrich said during a lunchtime discussion with Washington Post editors and reporters. “If it’s a disaster after you end it, you own it. If it’s a brilliant success after you end it, you own it.”

    […]

    “If the 2008 campaign is a referendum on the past, the Democrats win,” Gingrich told The Post. “If the 2008 campaign is a referendum on the future, the Democrats will lose.”

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/21/AR2007032102109.html

    Hey Newt:

    1) Screw you, moron. It’s your disaster, even if someone else comes to clean it up. It’s not like it’s just about to start going really well, is it?

    2) Past results often indicate future performance. Your party sucked yesterday, and they will probably suck tomorrow, unless you get new management. And by that I don’t mean you would be any improvement.

  • The Edwardses just announced on CNN that though Elizabeth’s cancer has returned, they are going to continue the campaign while she receives treatment. She’s asymptomatic and feels fine, thank goodness.

    I’m not an Edwards backer, but I’m a huge fan of her especially, and I think they’re talking about extremely important issues. Keep a good thought for Elizabeth.

  • It has become all to painful to watch the histrionics of one Mr. Newtty Gangrenerich over the past several years. It is all too obvious at this time that poor Newtty had a loveless childhood, and he is trying to make up for that by continuously trying to get Americans to love him. He is the sort who would profess to stand for democracy as long as everyone else agreed with his version of it. What an irrelevant soul! -Kevo

  • Hahaha… Did Marc Morial just put someone “on notice”?

    Calling Stephen Colbert…

  • I’ll vote for Hillary if she’s nominated but not in the primaries. The video is truly a great piece of work. The Democratic Party is in serious need of a LOT MORE Levity.

  • We liberals do a great job of eating our own now and regretting later. I share the concerns about Hillary, but let’s face it, her liberal credentials are at least as good as Bill’s were in 1992, the beginning of the Golden Age. Who needs Republicans when Democrats are perfectly capable of swiftboating each other? Sure, the Hillary mashup was funny. And Phil is understandably proud of his handiwork. But why — with nearly a year till the primaries — is a Democrat attacking a fellow Democrat with rightwing Republican talking points? What if it had been a Rovian dirty trick? How would we know the difference?

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