YearlyKos crowd receives Dems

Well, Hillary Clinton didn't lose at another Democratic candidate forum today; therefore, she won. But that didn't stop competitors from trying to score points at her expense.

The campaign's frontrunner and all the other party candidates (except Joe Biden) showed up at the second annual YearlyKos convention in Chicago to replay their views and pay tribute to those leftist activists and bloggers gathered there to celebrate their newfound influence and sharpen their skills for the coming political fray online. To please the crowd, all seven candidates announced that if elected, they would establish an official White House staff blogger, a promise that received quite an ovation.

After first claiming a scheduling conflict, Clinton did finally show up at her own candidate breakout session. She outlined her standard stump views for about 300 people, who received her warmly, according to The Times' James Rainey, who had one story appear in the Saturday paper. Another story on the convention by Rainey appears in Sunday's print editions and here on this website. At one point, Rainey reports, Clinton received a standing ovation.

Clinton has received considerable criticism on the DailyKos website for her initial support of the Iraq war and as the party establishment's candidate. In unscientific website polls there, she routinely trails John Edwards and Barack Obama.

At a later forum with all the other Democratic candidates before some 1,500 activists in McCormick Place, she was also warmly received -- until, that is, the subject of accepting donations from lobbyists came up. Edwards and Obama have ostentatiously announced they will not accept such campaign donations. The moderator turned to Clinton and asked if she'd make the same pledge.

"It's a position John has certainly taken," she said. And the crowd laughed. But no, she said, she would continue to accept lobbyists' donations because "whether you like it or not, there are lobbyists who represent real Americans, like nurses."

Noticeable hisses and boos erupted from the crowd, seemingly catching Clinton off guard. "Well," she said, "that gives me a serious sense of reality about being here." But she went on to explain: "If you look at my record, I have been fighting for the same things and I have stayed true to my core principles for more than 30 years."

Then she added, "I don't think after fighting for 35 years for what I believe in, people will think I can be seriously influenced by contributions I have taken."

Obama and Edwards then attacked. Obama said insurance companies had spent a billion dollars in the early '90s combating the national healthcare program Clinton was designing during her husband's first administration. "You can't tell me," Obama charged, "that money did not have an influence. You can't tell me that money was for the public good."

Edwards then moved in. "If you have any doubt whether Washington lobbyists have disproportionate influence," he said, "let me ask: How many in this room have a Washington lobbyist?" Three or four hands went up.

"You are not represented by Washington lobbyists," Edwards said. "We need to cut these people off." He got a loud cheer.

The only other candidate to receive hisses and boos was Mike Gravel, when he supported a federal sales tax. The convention ends Sunday morning, but the blogging about it has already begun.

--Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Stan]

Its sad to see you spinning this for a win to Hillay, are you kidding me....whaoo this is sad to read....Obama and Edward out performed her...and you want us readers to waste our time reading this spin...whaoo

[bobby taylor]

Are you kidding me? Hillary really got clobbered in this one. Obama is getting into the sync of running for president, and he is so patient in waiting Hillary out. And John Edwards is a contender worth listening to.
Hillary just might have her best days behind her. I'd like Obama's and Edwards chances. She really is in a not so healthy position being first in the polls. If the support runs so deep, why has Obama raised more money?

bobby taylor
Clifton Forge, Virginia

[mclain]

edward receive money from lobbyist /oabama s well- pac-pharmasuetical/
i got the copy of thier lobbyist what they lie i dont know. the canot lie bec. there is a news and every move u have is in the record. at least clinton s very honest not al that bad. you know that.
her husband ad, is good for the country i know so iveen here for 30 years i observe clinton adm im very happy.now is reublcian party greedy nelly/war monger and bad republican party is not a caring party a party of greedy.

[Tom Janzen]

It is unfortuante that you cast the Yearly Kos Convention in the terms you do, noting that candidates who appear and address the convention are showing "obesience". Why should this convention be any different from others, such as ones sponsered by the NAACP? I doubt that we would ever see an LA Times headline stating that the candidates where showing "obesience" to the NAACP by attending?
With this reporting the LA TImes is showing its defensiveness in responding to the challenges presented by mainstream bolgs which provide a new and more effective and pervasive medium that not only disseminats news, but also provides superior fact checking of that news to get to the truth of the matter. The only thing the LA Times has to sell with its news is the idea that "We are the LA Times - Trust Us". With the slant presented by this article, the Times again erodes the foundation of that promise. The Times must understand that its reports are being read by many people who read blogs and are able to critically examine the information and credibility of that information presented by the various sources. Readers of blogs are critical thinkers and are able to form their own judgements on this, as well as on the childish Times response presented in this article.

(Ans: Tom, read as many blogs as you like. That's the point. They've each got their own take and since this is still a free press we can have as many as people will read. You're right, you wouldn't see this headline in the news columns. But then this isn't the news columns. And it sure isn't news reporting.
Obeisance is precisely what they were doing to the Kos folks and the union folks and what the Republicans do when they visit Regent Univ. and the veterans assns. That's what they do in primary campaigns to assemble votes of the faithful and you can learn a lot about candidates by whom they choose to bow to and what they tell them.
This is an online political blog with its own attitudes and broad interests. And you and many others read it and move on to read more elsewhere. You can even go to blogs where everyone preaches to likeminded thinkers. Like a pep rally. That's super. Not very interesting but comforting to some. But that's not here. So the democracy is working. Thanks for reading.-AM)

[Stephen Cassidy]

The supposed refusal of Edwards and Obama on accepting campaign contributions from registered federal lobbyists is worthless in terms of advancing public policy.

Obama and Edwards don't take money from lawyer and lobbyist Smith. Yet they gladly take money from Jones, who isn't a registered lobbyist but is Smith's partner at the same law firm - Smith & Jones.

If Obama or Edwards become President and Smith seeks a meeting with an administration official to pitch a proposal for a client, you can be sure that the official will know that the Smith & Jones firm contributed to the campaign. And of course there is nothing to prevent executives from the corporate client of Smith & Jones to donate to Obama or Edwards.

As the LA Times explained on August 4th: "Even as he shuns donations from lobbyists, Obama has taken more than $1.4 million this year from law and consultancy firms that have partners who are registered to lobby, a Times analysis of Obama's fundraising shows. He has received hundreds of thousands more from corporate executives while turning down money from their lobbyists."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-obama4aug04,1,3685282.story

[Luis Contreras]

To vote for Obama ,means to vote for another George W. Bush. Why! Both of them have had plenty of money, green and unexperience, don't admit mistakes,Tell you what you want to hear while taking advantage of you, etc. The difference is Bush only had one citizenship __the USA. Obama has dual double citizenship. Obama has two allegiances, two loyalties . That Obama still has.One is for the USA and the other is for Kenya,in SE Africa .Where his father is from. The president has power of our armed forces, nueclear bombs, how many, where they are ,etc. Will Obama tell this information to Kenya? That is the question.