Tag: Barack Obama (page 44)

First there was Tony Rezko. Then Jeremiah Wright. Now get ready for Emil Jones, President of the Illinois Senate who was so instrumental in Obama's legislative career he referred to himself as "Obama's godfather." The TimesOnLine (UK) has the details.

Their close relationship began in 2003 when Obama sought Jones' support to run for U.S. Senate.

“You have the power to elect a US senator,” Obama told Emil Jones, Democratic leader of the Illinois state senate. Jones looked at the ambitious young man smiling before him and asked, teasingly: “Do you know anybody I could make a US senator?”

According to Jones, Obama replied: “Me.” It was his first, audacious step in a spectacular rise from the murky political backwaters of Springfield, the Illinois capital.

Obama has frequently described his closeness to Jones: [More...]

Barack Obama has begun an ad blitz in Pennsylvania, trying to overcome Hillary Clinton's substantial poll lead in the state.

With 31 days until the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, Sen. Barack Obama yesterday began airing the first pre-primary ads on Philadelphia TV stations. According to public records, the campaign spent about $330,000 on 30- and 60-second spots that will run on six area stations through Monday, the state deadline for voter registration.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, with a double-digit lead in state polls, has yet to hit local airwaves in the run-up to the April 22 primary. A total of 158 Democratic delegates are in play.

Obama has more money to spend than Hillary. Her campaign says his ads are misrepresenting the facts.

"It’s unfortunate that Barack Obama continues to talk about his leadership on ethics but doesn’t have much action to back it up. Senator Obama’s campaign still refuses to honor requests to disclose his tax and state records, and answer questions on inconsistencies with Tony Rezko. It’s a continuing pattern of words with no action.

"Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has literally criss-crossed the state talking with the people of Pennsylvania about the issues that matter to them and what they're concerned about is results, not rhetoric. They're not interested in which candidate spends the most money. They want to know which candidate is best prepared to beat John McCain in November, create good, new jobs and provide everyone with healthcare. That candidate is Hillary Clinton."

Donations would help her.

Obama is also ratcheting up his effort to register Republicans and Independents as Democrats to vote in the primary. Of course, he's not calling it "Be a Dem for a Day" -- he calls it an effort to "expand the party." He has volunteers going house to house.

Voting registration for the Dem. primary in PA ends Monday.

CBS has released a new poll on how Barack Obama's recent speech on Jeremiah Wright and race affected voters' views of him. Full poll results are here (pdf.)

69% said the speech favorably addressed race relations, 71% said it adequately expressed his relationship with Rev. Wright and 63% agreed with him. But,

When registered voters were asked if Obama would unite the country, however, 52 percent said yes - down from 67 percent last month.

Maybe he needs to stick to change and give up the unity theme. Someone should tell Bill Richardson, who seems to be a day late and a dollar short on unity as being a major reason for his endorsement.

His favorability rating: 43%. As to who was polled,

For this poll, CBS News re-interviewed voters who were first surveyed between March 15th and 18th, 2008, in the midst of the Wright controversy and mostly before Obama’s speech on race. The goal was to gauge their reactions to Tuesday’s speech and the continuing controversy over Wright’s comments. The poll was conducted on the night of March 20th.

(Updtate: Comments now closed.)

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will appear with Barack Obama in Oregon Friday and provide his endorsement to him.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, the nation's only Hispanic governor, is endorsing Sen. Barack Obama for president, calling him a "once-in-a- lifetime leader" who can unite the nation and restore America's international leadership.

"I believe he is the kind of once-in-a-lifetime leader that can bring our nation together and restore America's moral leadership in the world," Richardson said in a statement obtained by the AP. "As a presidential candidate, I know full well Sen. Obama's unique moral ability to inspire the American people to confront our urgent challenges at home and abroad in a spirit of bipartisanship and reconciliation."

Richardson could be angling for the V.P. Spot. He could also take Hispanic votes from Hillary. [More...]

I'm not sure whatpoint the Obama campaign thought they were making by providing the New York Times with a picture of Rev. Jeremiah Wright in a room full of people at a 1998 Prayer Breakfast at the White House shaking hands with Bill Clinton.

In providing the photograph to The New York Times, the Obama campaign appeared to be trying to divert some attention to the Clintons after a week in which Mr. Obama’s relationship with Mr. Wright has left him facing one of the biggest challenges of his campaign. There is nothing in the picture or the note that addresses whether Mr. Clinton had met Mr. Wright prior to the White House meeting or whether he or Mrs. Clinton knew anything about Mr. Wright’s views.

The Clinton campaign had this response (received by e-mail, no link)

"Less than 48 hours after calling for a high-minded conversation on race, according to the New York Times the Obama campaign is peddling photos of an occasion when President Clinton shook hands with Reverend Wright. To be clear, President Clinton took tens of thousands of photos during his eight years as president."

Update: Comments now closed.

On Larry King Live: (live-blogging)What Wright said is unacceptable. His statements were hurtful and reckless.

He wasn't aware of them, he wasn't in the church when he said them.

His church is a typical traditional AA Church. It's a bedrock of the South Side of Chicago with people from all walks of life.

Had I known that these comments were made, I would have confronted him directly, and I might have left.

His own career is about bringing people together. His own background is one of diversity. He's rooted in the AA community, there are flaws in the AA community, just as there are with all communities.

More....

Barack Obama is on Larry King Live. He says he's always agreed to abide by whatever the DNC decides. Didn't the DNC approve the Michigan revote plan and didn't he refuse to agree to it? The legislature would have considered it and likely passed it had he agreed. So is that even a true statement?

He says he's confident the Michigan delegation will be seated at the convention. I wonder if he's saying that after he gets declared the nominee -- which he likely will be if FL & MI votes don't count -- then he'll agree to recommend to the Credentials committee that they be seated so they can take place in party business.

I don't trust a word he says about this. He's playing politics, stalling, so he can keep Hillary's totals from including the bulk of 2 million votes from Florida and Michigan. That's not unity. That's not change. That's politics as usual. And ignoring one of the most fundamental principles of our democracy: one person one vote.

As MSNBC continues to hyperventilate over the breach of Barack Obama's "passport file", I'm wondering, what's in a passport file? They aren't saying his State Department file was breached, only his passport file. I thought a passport file is just a file for your applications. When I get visas to travel to other countries, I apply to their consulate, not the U.S.

Bill Clinton's passport files were breached in 1992 when some pages were found missing and the FBI launched an investigation. So what's in a passport file?

Typically such files, which are maintained for all people who receive passports, include materials like passport applications and supporting identity documents.

[More...]

Bump and Update: Michigan Legisature adjourned without taking up the revote plan. More here and here.

There's only one fair solution left: Award and seat the delegates per the first primary vote. Obama made his bed, he can now lay in it.

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Obama Again Asks for 50/50 Delegate Split in Michigan

Barack Obama is back to his unfair plan of demanding 50% of the delegates in Michigan.

I explained in detail last week why this is unfair and I'm going to say it again here.

On January 15, 2008, 594,398 Democrats went to their polling places and voted in their state's primary. The official Michigan election results are here.

[More...]

Kerry says Barack Obama can bridge the divide on religious extremism because of his race.

Tim Hames of the TimesOnLine examines Obama's speech and assesses its impact. He thought the speech was outstanding and moving. He thinks it will be remembered in a positive, ground-breaking way for years to come.

That said, what effect will it have on the presidential race?

Was the speech a turning point? No. Will the issue of the Rev Jeremiah Wright and his views on race be a burden to Barack Obama all the way to election day? Yes.

The Illinois senator demonstrated yet again his eloquence in his address in Philadelphia on Tuesday. The fundamental question about his candidacy, however, is whether a man who would be the least experienced president of the United States since Jimmy Carter has the judgment to serve in the Oval Office. That is the doubt that Hillary Clinton exploited in the Ohio and Texas primaries and it is the theme that SenatorJohn McCain will hammer home if Obama is his opponent for the White House.

More...

SUSA had three polls out yesterday:

• Ohio:

If there were an election for President of the United States today, and the only two names on the ballot were Republican John McCain and Democrat Hillary Clinton, who would you vote for?

Clinton leads McCain, 50% to 44%

What if it was John McCain against Democrat Barack Obama?

McCain leads Obama, 50% to 43%

• Missouri, same questions:

McCain leads Hillary, 48% to 46%
McCain leads Obama, 53% to 39%.

• Kentucky, same questions:

McCain leads Hillary, 53% to 43%
McCain leads Obama, 64% to 28%

The AP reports that Gallup daily tracking polls shows Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama 49% to 42% on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.

Will Obama's race speech turn the tide for him?

The New York Times says Hillary has to win Pennsylvania and lead in the popular vote (which doesn't include caucuses ) by the time the primaries end in June. [More...]