Wednesday’s political round-up

November 28, 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:

* AP: “Democrat Barack Obama, confronting claims that he’s light on foreign policy, surrounded himself Tuesday with heavyweights who said his differences with rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and others are just what the country needs: A new leader willing to talk with America’s enemies and become a better friend to struggling nations…. ‘I cannot understand why he is attacked for a lack of experience,’ [former National Security Adviser Tony Lake] told an audience…. Obama is older than Bill Clinton was when inaugurated, Lake said, and probably has more foreign policy experience than Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush had when they took office.”

* And speaking of Obama, in case there’s any doubt, the senator absolutely, positively opposes permanent U.S. bases in Iraq: “Barack Obama is against permanent bases in Iraq. He will not seek them. He will not build them. We will not have permanent bases in Iraq if Barack Obama is President.” An initial public statement on permanent bases led some to believe the senator was looking for a little wiggle room.

* Dueling celebrities — Obama has Oprah, and Hillary Clinton has Barbra Streisand: “We truly are in a momentous time, where a woman’s potential has no limitations,” Streisand said. She added that Clinton has “transcended the dictates for what is thought to be possible for our time.”

* Strategic Vision, a Republican pollster, released its latest data from Iowa yesterday. Among Republicans, Mitt Romney is clinging to his lead with 26% support, followed by Mike Huckabee at 24%, Rudy Giuliani at 14%, and Fred Thompson at 10%. No other candidate was in double-digits.

* The same Strategic Vision poll showed Clinton and Obama tied for first among Dems at 29%, with John Edwards not too far behind at 23%.

* The Clinton campaign got some good news yesterday when South Carolina state Rep. Harold Mitchell (D) switched his support from Obama to Clinton. Mitchell told CBS News, “If you put that aside and look at the candidates … it’s a no-brainer.”

* A CNN/Opinion Research poll in Florida shows Giuliani continuing to lead the GOP field in the Sunshine State. The former NYC mayor leads with 38%, with Romney, his next closest rival, way behind at 17%. McCain and Thompson are tied for third in the poll with 11% each.

* And speaking of Florida, Huckabee got at least some good news yesterday when state Senate Majority Leader Daniel Webster threw his support to the former Arkansas governor.

* The DNC hopes to utilize online activists even more, with the party putting digital video from its “trackers” online, for free. “People often say to us, ‘Why didn’t you make an ad from that?'” said Mike Gehrke, director of research for the Democratic National Committee, referring to interesting tidbits from the trail. “Now we can say, ‘Go make it yourself.’ If it’s good, maybe we’ll steal it.”

* When unveiling her new HIV/AIDS policy, Hillary Clinton also mentioned in passing that she now backs federal financing for needle exchange programs, joining Obama and Edwards. Good for all three of them.

* Joe Biden sticks his foot in his mouth yet again: “Biden called Obama a ‘great guy,’ then said, ‘I spent time in the projects’ and was a public defender.” What is this guy thinking?

* The Indianapolis Star released a poll this week showing Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) trailing his likely Democratic opponents during next year’s re-election fight. Good.

* On a related note, Chris Cillizza speculates about whether Indiana, a traditional GOP stronghold, may slowly be turning “purple.”

A year ago, I wished that Barack Obama had more executive experience, perhaps a governorship or a term or two as Al Gore’s VP. Since then, I’ve changed my opinion, so I’m glad to hear the quote from Tony Lake. Obama’s political and foreign expertise is sufficient by JFK standards (not that that’s a high bar), and his foreign expertise is certainly way, way more than Reagan and Bush The Worse. Moreover, he has more foreign experience and/or better foreign policy instincts than any of the Republican candidates. I think he exceeds their foreign policy wisdom put together, since those like McCain with lots of overseas expertise don’t use their expertise wisely, and I like what I’ve heard him propose.

  • Good for Barack. I was looking for a response from the candidates after al-Maliki tried to hire our military – at our expense. It looks like someone’s still ready to fight for what’s right.

  • Looking at the polling data from Indiana, anyone else notice this one:

    D. Requiring greater fuel efficiency from vehicles to reduce fuel consumption and pollution87 [approve] 11 [disapprove] 2 [not sure]

    It was the single highest approval of all questions present, with very low undecided. I wonder if jesus could poll that well, even in Indiana.

  • I agree completely with N.Wells at #1…its not the experience itself that counts, it what you learn from and can do with it.

  • Obama won’t seek permanent bases, and he won’t build them. What will he do about the ones that are already in existence? How about the ones that are under construction? Does he abandon them? How does he justify walking away from the cost of their construction? Do we “sell” them to the Iraqis for use by their military? Or do we consider them a gift? Since it’s likely we will still have troops in Iraq in 2009, will he continue to make use of the bases that have been built, and just call them “temporary?” And at what point does a temporary base become a permanent one?

    I realize all I have here are questions – but they need answers, and I think all the candidates need to take a stab at addressing them, not just Obama.

  • Go, Huck, go!

    The social conservatives that Rove Republicans have been manipulating all these years may be the only Republicans with enough motivation left to fight for their place in the party.

    I hope Huck gets the nomination. I don’t think he would run well at all in the general election.

  • If you read the entire Biden quote it is clear that he is referring to Obama’s community work. It’s actually not a “foot in mouth” statement.

  • It isn’t just about experience, it’s also about vision and ideology. Bush, for example, had no foreign policy experience, but he had a vision, didn’t he, and look where it landed us. He had an ideology, too, and look how he used it to staff the administration and government at all levels.

    Everybody has enough experience to do the job, just be virtue of being alive – it’s the kind of jpb someone will do that we want to have some comfort with. Vision and ideology are part of it – so is temperment and management style. Intelligence isn’t everything – but curiosity and thirst for knowledge is important.

    At bottom, I don’t think we can ever know whether someone is up to the job we want them to do until they get there. And really, why anyone would want it is beyond me.

  • Conventional wisdom dictates that the nine-month slog will focus primarily on 10-12 battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, Minnesota to name a few — that have been at the epicenter of the last two presidential elections….
    …But what if that conventional wisdom is wrong? What if continued discontent with President Bush and the war in Iraq is in the process of fundamentally altering the playing field — broadening the number of states that are potentially in play for the Democratic nominee?

    Are Pelosi, Rahm, and Reid ready to admit Dean was right big time with his 50-state strategy and they need to hand over the baton to him? The grope-for-the-center-no-matter-what policy hasn’t born half as much fruit.

  • I support Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy, but Indiana turning “purple”? That’s a laugh and a potential waste of DNC money.

  • I support Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy, but Indiana turning “purple”? That’s a laugh and a potential waste of DNC money. -sknm

    Well, the Dems made some gains in 2006, and they had a Democratic governor for a long time!

    Where my folks live in Indiana, they recently had city council elections (I believe) and three Dems (including their neighbor) lost by just a handful of votes each.

    I know anecdotes don’t make great data, but who knows what a bit more of a presence and some infrastructure would do?

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