Video Report
Bill Clinton Argues With W. Va. Voter
While campaigning in Fayetteville, W.Va., Bill Clinton argued with an audience member over claims made by Hillary Clinton that she improved health care during his administration. The exchange was quickly picked up on YouTube and various blogs. (Video by CBSNEWS.com)
Posted at 2:50 PM ET on May 9, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (18)
Share This: 
Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
A Renewed Health Care Focus for Clinton
By Perry Bacon Jr.
PORTLAND, Ore. -- While not naming Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton cast herself as the only candidate fighting to ensure health care for all Americans, arguing it was the one of the reasons her candidacy was so important.
"The plan I have proposed would cover everyone, children and adults," Clinton said at a children's hospital here. "An artificial distinction between children and adults is unworkable, you have to have seamless health care system that covers every single American. My plan does, my opponent's doesn't."
"This is a big difference in this campaign and really it's not a difference of politics so much as commitment," she said. "One of the reasons I wanted to run for president was to to finish the work I started in 1993 and 1994."
Posted at 2:33 PM ET on May 9, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (12)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Dan Balz's Take
The Real Race Begins
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), smiles during an interview taping with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, left, on "The Situation Room" in Washington, May 8, 2008. (Associated Press)
By Dan Balz
The political talk this week has been all about Hillary Clinton and the probable end to her campaign for the Democratic nomination.
The real focus should be on Barack Obama and what his campaign for the nomination tells us about the kind of candidate he would be in a general election against John McCain.
Obama's return to Capitol Hill on Thursday -- marked by a giddy reception from lawmakers and throngs of well wishers in attendance -- underscored the growing sense of inevitability that he will lead the Democrats into the fall. If uncommitted superdelegates are not moving to him in a rush right now, there is every indication that, once the June 3 primaries are wrapped up, the nomination battle will come to a quick and predictable conclusion.
Obama will be tempted to savor the next weeks as the final six primaries play out -- although he is likely to lose half of them. History suggests he would be better off undertaking a hard-headed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses that the long nomination battle have exposed and begin to make a rapid transition to general election politics and preparation.
Posted at 1:46 PM ET on May 9, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (275)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
McCain Touts Environmental Record; Disputes Huffington Claim
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., center, laughs while speaking with former Gov. Thomas Kean, R-N.J., left, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., at Liberty Science Center at Liberty State Park on May 9, 2008, in Jersey City, N.J. (Associated Press)
Updated 5:00 p.m.
By Juliet Eilperin
JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Flanked by former New Jersey Gov. Tom Kean (R) and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) touted his environmental record in the Liberty Science Center.
Competing with the shouts of more than 3,000 boisterous children touring the museum nearby, McCain said he would make global warming one of his top priorities if elected this fall.
"As president, I will dedicate myself to addressing the issue of climate change globally," he said. "I think there's no doubt our environment globally is challenged, that our environment in this country is challenged."
When questioned by a local reporter about his commitment to environmental issues, McCain argued he had done more to address the issue of climate change than either Democratic Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) or Hillary Clinton (N.Y.).
"Senator Lieberman and I brought legislation on this issue to the floor long before Senator Obama or Senator Clinton had any involvement whatsoever," he said.
Posted at 1:26 PM ET on May 9, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (49)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
The Debate Rages On...
ColorOfChange Leader Accuses Clinton of 'Race Baiting'
By Darryl Fears
There was yet another sign of racial disharmony in the Democratic Party today, as the leader of the influential black online advocacy group ColorOfChange.org lashed out at Hillary Clinton, calling her claim to owning the white, blue-collar vote "race baiting."
"The politics of division now seems to be her core strategy" to overcome Barack Obama's lead in the primary, said James Rucker, a co-founder of ColorOfChange who once worked for the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org. "It's a strategy where everyone loses; we can do better and we should be able to expect better from Senator Clinton."
ColorOfChange, which has 400,000 members and relies on a large network of black bloggers to spread its message, recently circulated a petition warning the Democratic party that adopting rules that would allow Clinton to overcome Obama's lead "could be the worst mistake the party has ever made."
Posted at 12:44 PM ET on May 9, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (96)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Clinton, Flying Against the Wind
Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaks at a rally in an airport hanger in Sioux Falls, S.D., May 8, 2008. (Associated Press)
By Perry Bacon Jr.
PORTLAND, Ore. -- From Washington, D.C., to Portland and many places in between, Hillary Clinton is sending a clear message: She is still running to be the nominee of the Democratic Party.
After landing in Washington after midnight on Wednesday morning, she embarked on a 48-hour tour, with stops in West Virginia, South Dakota and southern Oregon before her campaign plane landed in the northern end of this state in Portland after 3 a.m. Friday morning.
"On June 3, Montana and South Dakota will have the last word," Clinton said at a rally at airport hangar in Sioux Falls, South Dakota on Thursday afternoon.
From the importance of female voters in the Democratic Party to the need for the party to turn West Virginia blue to the desire of Oregon voters to hear the candidates talk about Western issues, Clinton offered different rationales for staying in a race that is looks increasingly difficult for her to win.
"This country is worth fighting for," Clinton said at a rally in Central Point on Thursday. "People say to me all the time, 'Are you going to keep going?' Well, yes, of course I'm going to keep going," pausing as the crowd applauded for several seconds.
"I'm going to keep going because you keep going," she added.
Posted at 12:01 PM ET on May 9, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (49)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Talking Taboo with Obama at 30,000 Feet
Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) talks on his cell phone as he boards his campaign plane at Midway Airport en-route to Washington D.C., May 7, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. (Getty Images)
Corrected 12:49 p.m.
By Alec MacGillis
PORTLAND, ORE. -- So this is what a presidential candidate in the homestretch toward his party's nomination looks like. Barack Obama, who has generally avoided spending more time than he needs to fraternizing with the reporters and photographers on his tail, last night retreated to the press section of his plane for an unlikely and potentially risky event: an extended game of Taboo.
The game, as some readers may know, is a word-association variation on charades: A player draws a card with a word, name or phrase on it and must then, under time pressure, offer a definition to draw his teammates into identifying the mystery term, but without resorting to five "taboo" words listed on the card. For instance, he or she must define "caboose" without use of the words "little" or "red" or "train."
The game has of late become a pastime of the media pack's "embeds," the twenty-something journalists tasked by the networks and cable news channels to track the candidates for months on end. Several had suggested to campaign aides that the candidate join in, and to the embeds' surprise, early in the long flight from the District to Portland last night, he strolled back and pronounced himself up for the contest, which he said he was new to.
Posted at 10:05 AM ET on May 9, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (15)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Barack Obama
Union, 3 Superdelegates Endorse Obama
Updated 1:56 p.m.
By Debbi Wilgoren
Sen. Barack Obama picked up an endorsement Friday morning from the union representing federal employees -- and the personal support of its president, a superdelegate to this summer's Democratic convention.
Two Democratic lawmakers also announced they would cast their votes as superdelegates for Obama, further solidifying his lead over New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in the battle to become the Democratic presidential nominee.
"Senator Obama has proven he is able to energize young Americans, independents and even moderate Republicans to support his candidacy," Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said in a statement. "I believe he represents our best hope of winning in November."
Posted at 9:42 AM ET on May 9, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (166)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
'West Wing' Actors Confirm Account of McCain Vote
Actor Bradley Whitford films part of an episode of the television series "The West Wing" on Sydenham Road in Dundas, Ont., Canada, Dec . 4, 2004. (Associated Press)
By Juliet Eilperin
Two Hollywood actors who dined with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in early 2001 at actress Candice Bergen's home confirmed Thursday that he told the assembled group he did not vote for George W. Bush in the 2000 election.
In separate phone interviews, Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff -- both of whom starred in the television political drama "The West Wing" -- said the senator made the remarks after he spoke at length about his reservations about Bush becoming president. Liberal blogger Arianna Huffington first wrote about the incident Monday, asserting neither McCain nor his wife Cindy backed Bush in his first presidential bid, and the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that a woman who was also at the dinner confirmed Huffington's account, though she declined to give her name.
McCain's aides, who could not be reached last night, denied the allegations Tuesday.
Whitford and Schiff said they did not hear Cindy McCain describe her vote, but both recalled how McCain had conveyed his opposition to Bush just a few days before Bush was inaugurated.
"He was going on and on about how horribly unqualified and untested Bush was, how the campaign had attacked his family," said Whitford, a registered Democrat. "Someone said, 'If he's so terrible, why did you support him?'"
McCain replied that as a member of the GOP, Whitford added, he always intended to back the party's nominee. Then, the actor said, someone asked McCain whether he had cast a vote in favor of Bush.
"He put his finger up to his lips, shook his head and mouthed, 'No way,'" Whitford said.
Posted at 6:01 AM ET on May 9, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (63)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Dan Balz's Take
Clinton's End Game
Hillary Clinton speaks at a campaign stop, May 8, 2008, at the Sioux Falls Airport in Sioux Falls, S.D. (Associated Press)
By Dan Balz
How will the Democratic nomination battle end?
At a time when the Hillary Clinton faces ever longer odds in her quest to deny Barack Obama the nomination, that question has becoming increasingly important to the candidates and the party. Will it end happily or unhappily? Will the loser go graciously or bitterly? Will the Democrats end up united or divided?
Clinton has vowed to stay in "until there is a nominee," but even with six primaries left on the calendar, the party is beginning to coalesce around Obama. The Illinois senator may lack the necessary delegates to secure the nomination, but after Tuesday's results in North Carolina and Indiana, Clinton advisers recognize that it will take a dramatic and unexpected change in the race to prevent him from winning.
Still, from the Clinton's campaign, there is no talk of bringing the race to an end any time soon. From her vantage point, she has, in recent weeks, won Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana and the popular vote in Texas. Obama won Mississippi and North Carolina. She has won critical battleground states and, in her view, is holding the constituencies vital to Democratic hopes of winning in November. Why not stay in until the end?
Posted at 6:58 PM ET on May 8, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (414)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
The Debate Rages On...
Clinton and White Voters
By Darryl Fears
Hillary Clinton said today that white voters "were supporting me," and that she was staying in the Democratic primary regardless of seemingly insurmountable odds against her winning it and growing calls to quit.
"I have a broader base to build a winning coalition on," Clinton told USA Today, citing Associated Press reports saying that Barack Obama's white support is shrinking.
Party faithful and pundits have been saying Clinton has no shot at capturing the nomination since Tuesday, when she lost big to Obama in North Carolina and barely beat him, by slightly more than a point, in Indiana.
Claiming to own the white, blue-collar vote appears to be a last, desperate effort by Clinton to persuade superdelegates to select her, said Andra Gillespie, an assistant professor of political science at Emory University in Atlanta.
The problem is that Clinton trails in the popular vote and the delegate count and has suffered a string of losses in the caucuses and primaries while winning most large states. Throughout the contest, Clinton, who is white, has been favored by white women and white blue-collar voters, especially those who did not attend college. Obama, meanwhile, has received about 90 percent of the black vote.
Clinton's gambit might split the party, Gillespie said, but Obama's historic run was bound to expose racial fissures that have long existed among Democrats.
Posted at 6:37 PM ET on May 8, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (241)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Obama Picks Up Bonior Endorsement
Then Rep. David Bonior (D-Mich.), pictured in 2001. (Associated Press)
By Alec MacGillis
Add to the Democratic Party veterans closing ranks around Barack Obama Michigan's David Bonior, whose endorsement today carries a little extra symbolic weight.
Bonior, who served 26 years in Congress, was most recently the manager of John Edwards's presidential campaign. While his endorsement should not necessarily be taken as a clue to the allegiance of Edwards, who has maintained a studied neutrality since dropping out, it does add to a growing list of former Edwards hands who have lined up behind Obama.
More generally, Bonior's backing helps shore up Obama in what has emerged as one of his weakest areas, his support among blue-collar white voters. Bonior was one of organized labor's staunchest allies in Congress and now teaches labor studies at Wayne State University in Detroit. He is particularly close with the United Auto Workers, which is notable given Obama's much-touted criticism of the auto industry's reluctance to improve fuel efficiency. The union did not endorse any candidate in the Democratic primary.
"Because Barack Obama continues to run a positive campaign that focuses on the issues that matter to ordinary Americans, he has won a commanding lead in this race, and I believe he can and will defeat John McCain in November," Bonior said in a a statement today. "Now is the time to unite behind Barack Obama so we can end business as usual in Washington and fulfill our moral obligation to America's hardworking families."
Posted at 2:38 PM ET on May 8, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (99)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Clinton Argues She Has the Broader Coalition
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) speaks with children at the West Virginia State Capitol May 8, 2008, in Charleston, W.Va.
(Getty Images)
By Perry Bacon Jr.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Looking for a rationale to continue her campaign, Hillary Clinton is more than ever making the argument that the coalition of voters backing her would make her a stronger candidate than Barack Obama in a general election.
"The delegate math may get complicated, but the electoral math is easy; we need 270 electoral votes to win in November," Clinton said at a rally at the State Capitol in Charleston, W.Va.
"We're going to have to run a vigorous, victorious campaign, and that's why I'm building such a strong and broad coalition among the states we must have to deliver the campaign. My campaign is winning swing states, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Arkansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico and, yes, Florida and Michigan."
She repeatedly referred to her appeal among "hardworking Americans" and said "I'm winning Catholic voters, Hispanic voters, blue-collar voters and seniors, the kind of people who Senator McCain will be fighting for in the general election." She did not repeat the term "white voters," after citing a poll showing her appeal with whites in an interview with USA Today.
"Some call you swing voters, but I call you Americans," she added.
Posted at 1:47 PM ET on May 8, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (97)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
Obama Hits the House Floor
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) waves to tourists from Illinois as he is followed by the news media through the U.S. Capitol, Thursday, May 8, 2008. (Associated Press)
Updated 4:25 p.m.
By Shailagh Murray
Sen. Barack Obama was mobbed on the House floor this morning as he hunted for superdelegates to lock up the Democratic nomination. Republicans, Clinton supporters, his own backers and more than a few undecided Democrats received the Illinois senator as if he were already the nominee.
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton spent Wednesday in D.C. trying to lobby uncommitted House superdelegates, but she asked them to come to her and had limited success persuading busy lawmakers to leave the Capitol. Obama showed up on their turf, walking into a packed chamber this morning in the middle of a vote.
He headed over to the "Murtha" corner to visit with the Pennsylvania delegation. Rep. Jack Murtha, the dean of delegation, is a Clinton man, but Keystone state buddies Mike Doyle, Paul E. Kanjorski, Jason Altmire and Robert Brady remain uncommitted. Obama yucked it up with all of them, including Armed Services Chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri, another Clinton backer and Murtha friend.
Posted at 1:03 PM ET on May 8, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (247)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
The Clickocracy
How the Web Contest Predicted the Real Thing
By Jose Antonio Vargas
"The Web called it early," declared Peter Leyden, head of the New Politics Institute, a liberal think-tank analyzing the Internet's impact on politics.
It was nearing 12:30 a.m. at the Google-sponsored party in Charleston, S.C., just hours after the CNN/YouTube debate. This was in late July, during those dog days of summer when Sen. Hillary Clinton was branded by pundits as the favorite for the Democratic nomination. A "flawless campaign," they said of her "tightly disciplined" machine. To Leyden, however, Sen. Barack Obama had the edge -- the Web was saying so. Go on MySpace and Facebook, type "Obama" on YouTube, look at the money he's raising on the Internet, check out the traffic on the increasing traffic on his site, Leyden instructed. There was not much of a contest on the Web. Voters flocked to Obama.
But what about Howard Dean? Dean, the darling of the Web, eventually lost the nomination to Sen. John Kerry.
"Obama is not Dean," Leyden said, "and 2004 is not 2008."
Posted at 12:46 PM ET on May 8, 2008 | Permalink
| Comments (11)
Share This: Technorati
| Tag in Del.icio.us | Digg This
