Clinton Backer Defects to Obama camp

The support for Hillary Clinton seems to be dwindling as Democratic congressman and civil rights leader, John Lewis, has shifted his support from Clinton to rival Obama. This is an important shift as Lewis is considered a key Afro-American supporter.

Lewis is a veteran of the US civil rights movement and hails from Georgia. The congressman stated that he had to shift in order to be on the side of the people. Obama’s campaign is gaining in momentum, especially after a widely telecast debate which showed both the democratic candidates slugging it out over various issues. Lewis stated, “The people are pressing for a new day in American politics and I think they see Senator Barack Obama as a symbol of that change.” The congressman’s switching camps is a significant blow to Clinton as her campaign seems to be dwindling, having suffered from 11 consecutive losses to Obama in recent primaries.

Clinton commented that she felt that Lewis must have been under tremendous pressure to have to switch camps. Lewis had initially pledged his support to Clinton last October. Clinton responded philosophically, stating that the shift did not matter because, as she said “At the end of the day it’s not about who is supporting us, it’s about what we’re presenting, what our positions are, what our experiences and qualifications are.” Obama welcomed the support of Lewis stating that he was “deeply honored” by this turn of events.

Both Clinton and Obama are campaigning hard for the next set of primaries in Texas and Ohio. Initial opinion polls indicate that Obama is gaining ground in both of these states. In fact, this is the first time that Obama is leading Clinton going into a primary. Initial polls seem to indicate that Obama is leading in Texas and is expected to secure 50% of the votes while Clinton is trailing at 46% according to a CNN poll.

Clash of the Titans: Obama and Clinton Engage in Heated Debate

Both the Democratic Party candidates once again locked horns with each other. This time the battlefield was a telecast debate, their final onscreen encounter before next week’s primaries in Ohio and Texas. Clinton and Obama lashed out at each other, on topics such as negative campaigning strategies, policies on health care, trade and foreign policy, and the war in Iraq.

The candidates engaged fiercely in a verbal repartee accusing each other of dirty tricks and negative campaigning over the past few weeks, merely in the name of gaining an upper hand. Each candidate accused the other of having spread misinformation about each others professed policies. While Clinton highlighted the flyers that the Obama camp had circulated regarding Clinton’s policies on North American Free Trade Agreement and her health care plan, Obama brushed it aside saying that his rival had been constantly indulging in negative attacks against his campaign and he was not whining about it, as he understood the intent of such moves.

Obama, however, sought to quell the recent uproar over a photo that had been distributed over the internet. He said that he believed Clinton when she said she had no idea where that photo had originated. The greatest contrast between both candidates was seen on the issue of foreign policy. Clinton once again harped on her prior qualifications in the field as a former first lady and a New York Senator making her a better choice to handle such affairs. Obama retorted that longevity in Washington should not be confused with experience; he highlighted Clinton’s vote in favor of authorizing the Iraq war in 2002, which was a large-scale strategic blunder.

Both candidates are set to face off next in Texas and Ohio. The stakes are high for Clinton who needs wins in both states to reduce the growing gap between her and Obama. Initial polls seems to indicate that Obama is leading in Texas and is expected to secure 50% of the votes while Clinton trailed at 46% according to a CNN poll.

Dodd Gives Obama the Nod

Senator Christopher Dodd, one-time rival of Barack Obama, has given his endorsement to Obama’s drive for the presidency. Dodd now feels that Obama is ready to be the next President. He also indicated that he felt there should be party unity behind Obama, saying, “…this is the moment for Democrats and independents and others to come together, to get behind this candidacy”. Dodd stated that it was time to concentrate on taking the fight to the Republicans and was worried of a divisive campaign evolving, taking into account the current presidential race. Dodd also went on to say that he was worried that Clinton’s supporters were overreaching themselves trying to halt Obama’s momentum.

Dodd abandoned his own presidential campaign last month. He is the first Democratic candidate to have dropped out who has endorsed another party member. Both democratic candidates, Obama and Clinton tried ardently to woo Dodd over. Dodd is said to have received numerous calls from former President Bill Clinton. His support comes at a time when Obama is pulling ahead of Clinton in the presidential race. Obama has won 11 consecutive primaries since Super Tuesday and is considered by many to be the Democratic front-runner.

Dodd commented on the kind of scrutiny that Obama had been subjected to and how the Democratic candidate had yet managed to garner the support of so many. Both democratic candidates are campaigning hard before the next set of primaries in Texas and Ohio. Initial polls seem to indicate that Obama is gaining ground in both of these states. In fact, this is the first time Obama is leading Clinton going into a primary. Initial polls seem to indicate that Obama is leading in Texas and is expected to secure 50% of the votes, while Clinton trailed at 46%, according to a CNN poll. Dodd’s support comes at a critical time when Clinton is floundering to make a comeback and desperately needs to win in the States of Texas and Ohio.

Clinton, Obama Exchange Offensives

As if to ready for the primaries in Texas and Ohio, on March 4, Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are already sharpening their attacks on each other.

Clinton, is lagging behind Obama in the delegates she has won to the national convention to select the Democratic presidential nominee for the November election. She desperately needs wins in Texas and Ohio to continue on the race. Speaking to journalists in Rhode Island, she said, “I’m working as hard as I can.” She said, “I have good campaigns in Texas and Ohio and I feel really positive about what’s going to happen on March 4.”

Clinton initiated attacks on Obama in response to leaflets distributed in Ohio where he criticized his rival’s health care plan. She also criticized the Illinois senator for his support, in the past, of the North American Free Trade Agreement. “Nobody believes Senator Obama’s plan is universal because it’s not. Mine is,” she said, adding, “So raise legitimate questions but don’t engage in, you know, this kind of false and misleading advertising.” She went on to add, “There’s a big difference between what is said in that campaign and what is done in that campaign.”

Obama, whose rating have been steadily rising over the past several weeks, retorted that the former first lady’s anger was a frustrated campaign tactic. The leaflets, he pointed out, had been distributed some weeks before. Clinton, he reasoned, had not objected then. Clinton responded to this by sayingthat she was under the impression that the leaflets had been taken back following a clarification from her campaign. She said she was surprised to see them with a woman in Ohio. “I thought they’d stopped,” she fumed, and added, “They had been discredited and we’d called their hand and I thought they’d stopped, or at least that it would have been revised.”

Obama shot back by criticizing Clinton for shifting her stance on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was pushed through by Clinton’s husband, the former President Bill Clinton. “Senator Clinton’s premise in her candidacy throughout this campaign has been 35 years of experience, including eight years in the White House, right? She has essentially presented herself as co-president during the Clinton years,” Obama said. “So the notion that you can selectively pick what you take credit for and then run away from what isn’t politically convenient, that doesn’t make sense,” he added.

Obama, Clinton Spend Extravagantly on Campaigns

It could be an indication of how close the competition between the two leaders is, and how high the stakes involved are. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are both spending extravagantly on their electoral campaigns. In contrast, Republican John McCain has spent only about a third as much.

For instance, Obama has already spent $30.5 million in the January, going by his report to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Out of this, more than $18 million was used for ads to be broadcast on television and radio. Hillary Clinton too was on par, spending $28.5 million in January, from which $11 million went in campaign ads. In addition, she spent $3.5 million on direct mail expenses; Obama’s expenses for the same came up to a little less than half of the amount.

However, the campaigns of the two leaders differ in their choice of vendors. Obama, for instance, uses the services of different strategists and consultants for major events. His campaign has already spent $2.7 million to pay for the services of four firms: Harstad Strategic Research, David Binder Research, Benenson Strategy Group, and Brilliant Corners. He has spent $1.2 million for media consulting and production services provided by his strategist, David Axelrod; besides he has also worked with other consultants.

In contrast, Clinton relies largely on her own strategists’ firms for major campaign functions. She paid her senior strategist Mark Penn’s firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland, $3.5 million for the direct mail campaign, and another $315,000 for polling in January. Over and above the $7.5 million that she has already paid the firm, she still owes another $2.1 million. Clinton’s campaign also paid her media strategist Mandy Grunwald’s firm more than $2 million to create ads.

The campaign spending reveals interesting information into the strategies employed by the campaigns of the two leaders. Obama, for instance, relied heavily on television to make his presence known amongst voters. Clinton, in contrast relied more on direct mail posts to her supporters.

Obama’s campaign, however, does enjoy the edge when it comes to finance. While Clinton, who has lent $5 million to her campaign ran up$7.6 million in debts, Obama, in January had about $1 million in debt with $18 million cash. In January, Obama raised $35 million against the $13 million raised by Clinton.

Bill Clinton: Texas is Do or Die for Hillary

Texas, according to former President Bill Clinton, would be the litmus test that would decide the fate of his wife Hillary Clinton’s presidential ambitions. The results in the primary elections to be held on March 4, 2008, in Texas, as well as in Ohio, he indicated, would determine whether Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama would win the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

The former president has throughout played an active role in his wife’s presidential campaign. Addressing a rally in Galveston, Texas, on Wednesday, he asked voters to vote for her to ensure that she is nominated. “This whole nomination process has come down to Texas and Ohio,” he told a 300 strong audience comprising of Hillary Clinton’s supporters. “If she wins Texas and Ohio I think she will be the nominee. If you don’t deliver for her, I don’t think she can be. It’s all on you,” he added, for good effect.

Hillary Clinton, once a frontrunner in the presidential race has, for some time, seen her position gradually lagging behind her rival Obama. A candidate needs 2,025 delegates to be nominated. With the Illinois senator’s recent victory in Wisconsin, Clinton has 1,233 delegates as compared to Obama’s 1,303. For Hillary Clinton, who desperately needs to improve her count of delegates, the primaries in Texas and Ohio could very well be the last ray of hope. Both, Hillary Clinton and Obama will be vying hard for the 228 delegates in Texas and 161 in Ohio.

As Martin Frost, a congressman from Dallas, with a neutral position explained, “Clinton could win the statewide vote, but she could still just break even or end up behind in the delegate count,” adding, “The press is playing attention to who wins the delegates, so that will be important.”

McCain Involved in Sex Scandal Claims NY Times

Senator John McCain’s presidential nomination from the Republican Party is almost just a matter of time now. However, the senior senator seems to have other things to worry about. A major newspaper has insinuated that he is involved in a sexual scandal.

The New York Times, has published a story that Republican presidential frontrunner, McCain, has enjoyed an affair with a lobbyist named Vicki Iseman. In an article, “For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk”, the paper says Iseman “had been turning up with him (McCain) at fund-raisers, in his offices and aboard a client’s corporate jet.” The article says, “Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity.”

The article also says that when the media reported that McCain “had written letters to government regulators on behalf of the lobbyist’s clients, the former campaign associates said, some aides feared for a time that attention would fall on her involvement.”

“Even as he has vowed to hold himself to the highest ethical standards,” the New York Times article says, “his confidence in his own integrity has sometimes seemed to blind him to potentially embarrassing conflicts of interest.”

Both McCain and Iseman have denied that they had a romantic relationship. A press release issued by McCain’s campaign responded to the article by saying, “It is a shame that the New York Times has lowered its standards to engage in a hit and run smear campaign. John McCain has a 24-year record of serving our country with honor and integrity. He has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists, and he will not allow a smear campaign to distract from the issues at stake in this election.” It said, “Americans are sick and tired of this kind of gutter politics, and there is nothing in this story to suggest that John McCain has ever violated the principles that have guided his career.”

Soon after the report was published, Iseman’s bio, it seems, was pulled off the website of her employers, Alcalde & Faye. While Huffington Post has a screenshot of the bio, blogger Will Bunch has a photo of Iseman with President George Bush.

October, last year, journalist Ron Rosenbaum had written in a blog that he had come to know from “a well-connected media person” that “…the LA Times was sitting on a story, all wrapped up and ready to go about what is a potentially devastating sexual scandal involving a leading Presidential candidate.” The LA Times apparently never published the story, which, it is conjectured may have been the same as reported by the NY Times.

Obama Wins the Wisconsin Primary

It was yet one more point scored for Barack Obama—and one lost for Hillary Clinton. Democrat Barack Obama won the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday. With this win, Obama’s victories over the past three weeks now total nine. Clinton, meanwhile, has lost another chance to make up for her fast flagging fortune.

While the white female votes were split almost equally between Obama and Clinton, the Illinois senator also scored well with the working class by winning a significant number if the blue collar votes. Speaking to a loudly cheering crowd in Houston, Obama said, “The change we seek is still months and miles away.”

Economy and trade were held to be the key issues in the race. Seven out of ten voters held that international trade had caused people to lose losing their jobs in Wisconsin. Less than one of five voters said that trade had given rise to more jobs than it has lost.

Clinton, who seems to have lost a good portion of what was traditionally her turf, to Obama, however, did not seem perturbed. Addressing an audience in Youngstown, Ohio, she did not show any sign of defeat, nor did she mention Obama’s win.

“Both Senator Obama and I would make history,” the former first lady said. “But only one of us is ready on day one to be commander in chief, ready to manage our economy, and ready to defeat the Republicans. Only one of us has spent 35 years being a doer, a fighter and a champion for those who need a voice.”

That television networks chose to interrupt a telecast of Clinton’s speech to cover Obama’s address is indicative of the popular perception of the rankings enjoyed by the two rival leaders.

Meanwhile, on the Republican side, Senator John McCain won. Having defeated Mike Huckabee, McCain is now even closer to winning the1,191 delegates that he needs to secure his nomination from the Republican Party. Evidently indicating that Obama’s campaign rested on an empty premise, McCain said, “I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure that Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change.”

Following the defeat of most of his rivals, McCain now seems certain of winning the Republican Party’s nomination. However, the outcome of the race is not all that clear amongst the Democrats. With the Ohio and Texas primaries approaching, it is said, Clinton would need to win at least one of them—and maybe even both—if she has any chance of catching up with Obama.

According to poll surveys, about a quarter of the votes in Wisconsin were independent votes, while 15 percent were first time voters. This is significant when one considers that Obama has earlier scored strongly amongst the independents and younger voters.

Romney Endorses John McCain

Republican candidate Mitt Romney has endorsed leading rival John McCain for the party’s presidential nomination. Earlier Romney had suspended his campaign, indicating that he did not want a democrat candidate to win the presidential race. Romney has now asked his delegates to support McCain.

Both leaders interacted in private before they appeared alongside each other at a news conference. McCain, who was campaigning in Vermont and Rhode Island, flew to Boston to attend the announcement of his endorsement by Romney.

While announcing his endorsement, Romney praised McCain for his integrity and capability. “Even when the contest was close and our disagreements were debated, the caliber of the man was apparent,” he said, as McCain stood beside him. He also called McCain “a man capable of leading our country at a dangerous hour.” McCain responded appropriately by blaming the stress of campaigning for the disagreements between them. “Primaries are tough,” the senior Senator remarked. “We know it was a hard campaign and now we move forward, we move forward together for the good of our party and the nation,” he said.

Romney’s endorsement has ended almost a year of acerbic rivalry between the two leaders. Romney repeatedly picked on TV ads of McCain aired in New Hampshire. Both leaders also publicly debated over differences, and neither was known to particularly like the other. Romney portrayed McCain as not being conservative enough, while McCain insinuated that Romney’s retracting over key issues was indicative of Romney’s readiness to adapt his ideology to suit political ends. According to campaign officials, Romney has decided to endorse McCain before it is too late and it becomes clear who the democrat candidate will be.

With Romney dropping his campaign, McCain’s nomination from the Republican Party is now assured. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas Governor, and Ron Paul, the Texas Representative with libertarian are the only two Republicans still in the race. However, neither really stands a chance of beating McCain with the number of delegates they win.
Since Romney has already won 280 delegates, the number of delegates for McCain would now be quite close to the 1,191 delegates needed to capture the nomination. And it is still nine months before the general elections will be conducted.

Even following Romney’s announcement, eight members of the Republican National Committee endorsed McCain adding his total to 851 delegates. Though Romney can ask delegates to vote for McCain, he cannot actually hand them over; this is because the actual delegates will be selected during the state conventions in spring, by people who voted for Romney in the caucuses. It would not be possible to predict whether they would accept Romney’s endorsement of McCain.

Romney suspended his campaign last week last week, but had refrained from supporting McCain as Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson did.

Obama Promises $ 210 Billion for Jobs

Democrat Barack Obama has promised that if he becomes president he will spend $ 210 billion to create more jobs. It is a clever strategy that is intended to win him the support of the economically deprived section of the electorate who had, up until now, supported Hillary Clinton.

Obama’s proposal consists of two programs to be implemented over a period of ten years. Out of this, the larger, using $ 150 billion to generate 5 million green jobs in the alternative energy sector, would benefit the environment.

Besides $ 60 billion have been set aside to be put into a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank for the construction roads, bridges, airports, and other civic facilities. According to Obama, this would raise about 2 million jobs, especially in the construction industry. “This agenda is paid for,” Obama stated.

The Republican National Committee, keen on projecting him as a tax-and-spender, has an online ‘Obama Spend-O-Meter’ online to track his proposals. The money, Obama rationalized, would be raised from that saved by ending the war in Iraq, slashing tax breaks for corporations, imposition of the carbon pollution tax, and taxing higher income earners.

Obama, who has been criticized for lacking specific policies, requested the workers at the General Motors plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, to excuse him, saying his policy speech would be different from the stirring speeches usually associated with him. “Today I want to take it down a notch,” he said. “This is going to be a speech that’s a little more detailed. It’s going to be a little bit longer, not as many applause lines.”

As he points out often, Obama has in the past exhorted automakers to bring up the fuel economy standard. However, at the event, a day after General Motors declared the loss of $ 38.7 billion for the year 2007, he refused to mention it.

“I know that General Motors received some bad news yesterday,” Obama said, adding, “I also know how much progress you’ve made, how many hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles you’re churning out. And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to retool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years.”

Owing to his wins in the last weeks, Obama is in a leading position as the likely choice for the Democratic nomination. He criticized Clinton, who is now lagging far behind him. He referred to her shared vote, along with Republican candidate John McCain on the Iraq war. He drew comparisons between her and George Bush for an economic recovery plan that excluded immediate relief, but forgot to add that she was open to tax rebates.