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Edwards Grabs Union Support
By marc
Las Vegas
John Edwards made his fifteenth campaign visit to the Silver State this weekend, speaking to a boisterous crowd of unionized carpenters and then privately huddling the powerful Service Employees union.
It's all part of the lagging Edwards campaign to get a much-needed rev from labor as the first primary caucuses loom less than three months from now.
(13) CommentsOctober 21, 2007
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Dellums Endorses Clinton
By marc
Here's a political proposition on which someone could have made --or lost-- a lot of money. Veteran anti-war congressman and now Mayor of Oakland, Ron Dellums, has endorsed Hillary Clinton.
It's a surprise move, and a disappointing one for many, who came to revere Dellums as one of the most consistently pro-peace voices during the near three decades he spent in Congress. Dellums retired in 1997.
Last year he won a landslide victory in the Oakland mayoral election, mostly by chiding the record of the outgoing Jerry Brown who Dellums criticized as too centrist, too business friendly.
(15) CommentsOctober 4, 2007
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Iowa Straw Men
By marc
Ames, Iowa
"Change begins in Iowa and change begins today!," exclaimed Republican presidential candidate and the presumed winner of Saturday's Iowa GOP Straw Poll, Mitt Romney (though we're still awaiting the official results as there's apparently a voting machine glitch!). The only other catch is that neither Romney nor any of the other major candidates participating in today's beauty contest could list any single substantive policy they would actually change.
Unless, that is, you count all eight participating candidates having endorsed some version or another of an even more regressive tax policy than that of George W. Bush. Maverick and semi-crank candidate Ron Paul wants a withdrawal from Iraq. But otherwise the entire pack of candidates agreed they are pro-life, anti-Roe V. Wade, pro-gun, pro-privatization of some portion or another of social security, in favor of building a wall across the Mexican border, and had nothing very different to say about Iraq than would any current sitting White House official.
(17) CommentsAugust 11, 2007
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Meeting Mitt Romney
By marc
Des Moines, Iowa
I drove 227 miles on Thursday to get from Council Bluffs to the hamlet of Hampton in order to catch an "Ask Mitt Anything" meet and greet with Mitt Romney. In a flyspeck of a northern Iowa town where the only two eateries were a Hardee's and a Subway, Romney drew a bank basement crowd of about 50 -- all-white and decidedly elderly i.e. a very representative cross-cut of the Iowa GOP electorate.
Anyway, please remind me not to do that again!
(9) CommentsAugust 10, 2007
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Laboring Democrats
By marc
Before a crowd of 15,000 union members at Chicago's Soldiers Field Tuesday eve, the field of Democratic presidential candidates jabbed and sparred at an AFL-CIO sponsored forum, but no knockouts were delivered.
Both Barack Obama and John Edwards took some rhetorical swings at front-runner Hillary Clinton, chiding her for being too much of an insider and trying to exploit her affirmation over the weekend that she had no problem accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists. "You've got to have a president in the White House who is not subject to the whims of corporate lobbyists," Obama said in a direct reference to Clinton.
Edwards joined the attack saying: "You will never see a picture of me on the front of Fortune magazine saying I am the candidate that big corporate America is betting on," Edwards said, clearly referring to a picture of Hillary that recently appeared on the magazine cover. "That is one thing that will never happen. That's one thing you can take to the bank."
(9) CommentsAugust 7, 2007
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Top Calif GOP Offical: An Illegal Immigrant?
By marc
Australian-born Michael Kamburowski, the chief operating officer of the California Republican Party, has suddenly resigned following press reports that he was ordered deported 2001 and subsequently did jail time for the matter. He's also suing the government for $5 million.
GOP officials have been left stunned and almost speechless, unable to explain how Kamburowski was recently appointed to the post by state Republican chairman Ron Nehring.
Former White House adviser Steve Schmidt, who ran the re-election campaign for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, angrily described the appointment of Kamburowski as "almost a parody of incompetence and malfeasance.''
(65) CommentsJune 25, 2007
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Hollywood Tilting to Hillary?
By marc
After an early tabloid romance with Barack Obama, it now looks like the Hollywood Glitterati might be ready for a steady date with Hillary. The L.A. Times reports that Senator Clinton is Tinsel Town's new favorite baby -- picking up a cool $1.1 million in Hollywood cash during one Left Coast visit last week.
The Times report says the pro-Clinton buzz is all around town:
In fact, it's become so strong that Steven Spielberg, once considered a solid supporter of Illinois Democrat Obama, is now believed to be leaning in favor of Clinton, according to longtime industry politicos. (Spielberg's political spokesman, Andy Spahn, was coy this week when asked about Spielberg's political thinking. "We have nothing to announce," Spahn said, but stay tuned.)
(51) CommentsJune 8, 2007
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The GOP Debate: Nukers and Know-Nothings
By marc
The ten presidential candidates of the GOP have finished their latest debate – this time in New Hampshire--and once again, as the case last time, the winner is…The Democrats.
If the DNC had enough good sense, they'd bankroll the Republican Presidential Debates as a weekly, roving, televised Chautauqua. I mean, what more could a Democratic campaign ever ask for than what was seen Tuesday night on CNN? Every major (and almost every minor) Republican contender elbowing each other aside to chide President Bush while simultaneously and unreservedly endorsing his most unpopular policies. An authentic twofer – for the other party, that is.
Here's a taste of the Bush-bashing:
(6) CommentsJune 5, 2007
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Hillary Bobs Through N.H. Democratic Debate
By marc
No doubt that Sunday night's penultimate Sopranos episode got a much larger slice of the audience pie than did the CNN Democratic presidential debate from New Hampshire. Yes, yes, it's still "early on" -- as they say-- and the actual voters aren't paying much attention yet. But these sort of debates remain important for the sort of media buzz they generate and, in turn, the sort of donor cash-fuel they provide.
If you didn't see the debate, try to catch the re-runs later this week on CNN. But here's my thumbnail impression: Hillary, unfortunately, won. Simply because none of her rivals could take her out.
Barack Obama is way too consensual and he's handling himself as if he's the one who had a double-digit lead in the polls -- which he doesn't. Obama was quick to sharply rebut and rebuke John Edwards when the former vice-presidential candidate accused him and Hillary of not being straightforward and vocal enough last month when they voted to oppose continued funding of the war. "They went quietly to the floor of the Senate, cast the right vote, but there is a difference between leadership and legislating," Edwards said.
(3) CommentsJune 4, 2007
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Hillary Snares Villaraigosa Endorsement
By marc
As the the three top-tier Democratic candidates come campaigning in California this week, Hillary Clinton has picked up the endorsement of L.A.'s popular mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa.
The endorsement, while early, comes as little surprise to local Antonio watchers. Much of his key staff and his top advisor had already inter-mingled itself into the Clinton campaign. And a few weeks ago, the Mayor's closest ally, House Speaker Fabian Nunez, had already endorsed Clinton. Both Bill and Hillary had been exercising a recent full-court press to line up Villaraigosa in the New York Senator's corner. And it paid off with a Wednesday press conference at UCLA where it was made official.
By bagging Nunez and Villaraigosa so early on in the campaign, Clinton clearly intends to bite deep into the California latino vote in a state where challengers Barack Obama and John Edwards could have potential reservoirs of strength.
(17) CommentsMay 30, 2007
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