This space is supposed to be reserved for serious political material like foot-tapping senators, planted public forum questions, broken candidates' buses -- or make that candidates' broken buses -- satirical magazine covers that most people don't get and Rep. Ron Paul's chances of stealing the Republican nomination from John McCain.
We're going to make an exception under popular demand and publish late the latest JibJab cartoon video. It's just great. Wonderful. Don't miss it if you can.
The best part is what Hillary does toBill when he says a certain word.
We hope you die laughing. If you need more information on this stuff, our colleague Mark Milian over at Web Scout has more than you need. Go there. But do come back; they don't know anything about the electoral college over there.
Our friends over or up or wherever they are on the Entertainment section of LATimes.com took one look at today's new New Yorker magazine cover and plunged into researching nine other outrageous magazine covers that are rather eye-popping.
Thousands have read The Ticket's report from yesterday on the either incendiary or satirical cover of the Obamas -- Barack and Michelle-- in Muslim/freedom fighter gear, armed to the teeth, in the Oval office beneath an Osama bin Laden portrait while they burn the American flag. Other than that, what's to get excited about? That Ticket item is right here.
The new cover story photo gallery is also a hoot -- many political, some not. Remember the Yoko Ono/naked John Lennon cover that made you want to take a shower? Is peace political? Or the Time magazine cover story about Bill Clinton's extra-curricular troubles that perhaps accidentally had a pair of devil's horns coming out of his head?
There's Entertainment Weekly's nude Dixie Chicks cover after they said those naughty things overseas about President Bush and lost so much of their music sales in Tennessee and Texas.
Our personal favorite is the cover story in Vanity Fair titled "Is Barbara Bush as Tough as They Say?" that had a nicely-dressed photo of Demi Moore on the cover instead of the former first lady. Demi, Barbara, hey, it probably made sense at the design meeting. Except when you look closely at the photo, that's really not much of a suit on the Demster.
We actually recommend two places to check out. One is our blogging colleague Elizabeth Snead, over at Dish Rag, who's a lovely lady unless you're a celebrity and since we're not, she's good and has an alternative New Yorker cover some might like better.
And the other spot is the aforementioned, semi-political photo gallery, which you can access by clicking on the also aforementioned New Yorker cover below.
Well, one sure way to get "NASCAR Dads" to pay attention to your political campaign is get your name on one of the cars.
The Swamp tipped us to an item that Sports Illustrated is reporting:Barack Obama is on the verge of sponsoring a car at a race in August. The metaphor potential is huge -- everything from leading pole-to-pole to hitting a wall and not finishing.
Obama earlier was flirting with campaigning at a NASCAR event, but this takes it one step better. Though there are pitfalls. The car, BAM 39, reportedly is a Toyota, which likely won't sit well with the United Auto Workers.
An announcement is expected within a couple of weeks, SI reports, though in keeping with a practiced political observer's skepticism, believe it when it happens.
(UPDATE: The announcement came sooner than two weeks and SI was wrong. Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Friday evening the campaign won't be sponsoring a NASCAR entry. "The Obama campaign will not be sponsoring a car in the Sprint Cup series," Burton said, "though we will continue to look for ways to reach out to voters and convey Senator Obama’s message of change.” And he didn't mean tires.)
And, yes, we know Rep. Ron Paul isn't going to be anybody's nominee. But he could be.
We are sincerely indebted to loyal Ticket reader Travis for this morning's week-ending chuckle.
He found a website that lets you nominate anyone for president (insert name here) and incorporates their name in a most realistic TV news video report.
You can see how ridiculous the site is by watching this version -- before you start pranking family and friends. (It might take a minute or so to load if busy.)
And thanks again to Travis. If anybody else comes across good/fun/unusual political sites, just send them to The Ticket please. We might highlight yours.
This is a new Ticket experiment. We're going to try this from time to time until Nov. 4 with new ads from the presidential campaigns -- maybe even ads for other offices, if they're interesting.
But instead of us writing on what these television commercials are about, we're asking you to tell us and the thousands of other daily Ticket readers what they're about. Why waste time talking back to your television screen?
You, the voters, tell us right here right now what you see in them that you like, didn't know, didn't like, whatever. It's your turn to blog about the campaigns.
Tell us what it's about and what you think in the Comments below. And since this isn't a pep rally for or against anyone, try to be open-minded, regardless of whom you may be currently supporting. We'll have other candidate ads posted here in coming weeks.
By all expectations, Rep. David Dreier shouldn't have a political care in the world. Even in this tough year for Republicans.
First elected in 1980, the GOP congressman has used the power of congressional incumbency to amass a campaign account bulging with $1.85 million. His Democratic foe, Russ Warner, has barely $104,000.
Dreier’s district, which covers parts of Los Angeles County out to San Bernardino County, was tailor-made to ensure Republican victory.
But a California-based independent campaign group, Courage Campaign, is targeting Dreier, seeking to tie him to President George W. Bush. An ad intended for cable TV, but so far only on the Internet, calls him a “Bush rubber stamp.”
Rick Jacobs, the group’s founder, is seeking to undermine Dreier’s reputation as a political moderate. Convinced that Dreier could lose, he said: “This is going to be a huge change year.”
In an interview Dreier spokeswoman Jo Maney called the ad an “amateurish smear job.”
Political consultant Allan Hoffenblum, who tracks California campaigns in his Target Book, said Dreier should have little to fear: “If Republicans start losing seats like Dreier’s, they’re in deep trouble.”
As of its last report, Courage Campaign had $36,000 in the bank. But its backers include major Democratic donors. Silicon Valley entrepreneur Mark Gorenberg, and Pacific Palisades investor Thomas Unterman each gave him $5,000.
In recent months, Courage Campaign has mounted a vocal campaign to block a training facility in San Diego County developed by Blackwater, the private security firm, and has also criticized Sen. Dianne Feinstein over some of her votes.
The Republican National Committee is spending $3.4 million on television ads in four swing states blasting Barack Obama’s energy policy, according to a campaign finance report filed Monday.
The 30-second ad is part of an independent campaign on behalf of Sen. John McCain. It says McCain is “pushing his own party to face climate change,” and contrasts the presumptive GOP nominee’s energy stand against Obama’s.
McCain supports “alternative energy, conservation, suspending the gas tax, and more production here at home.” The reference to more production presumably is a reference at least in part to McCain’s recent call for offshore oil drilling, made shortly before he went to a fundraiser in Santa Barbara.
Obama, the spot says, opposes lower gasoline taxes, nuclear power and more drilling. “Just the party line,” says the ad.
The ad -- view it below -- is airing in at least Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Brad Todd, of the firm, OnMessage Inc., created the spot, and said it was expected to air through next week. In a statement, Todd explained the theme by saying energy security “is emerging as a defining difference in the race for president."
Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan slapped back, telling The Times' Dan Morain that McCain promises to “continue the Bush approach of trying to drill our way out of our energy crisis.” Obama is offering “historic investment in alternative energy development,” he added.
The $3.4-million buy is substantial. But it is likely only the ante for the RNC and the Democratic National Committee. The DNC alone spent more than $100 million in 2004 on behalf of Sen. John Kerry’s presidential run.
The Republican National Committee has spun off its own independent expenditure committee and plans an initial $3 million ad buy targeting Barack Obama in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Politico reports.
Why the separate group?
Brad Todd, who will run the effort, blamed Obama in a statement to Politico:
"Following Barack Obama's decision to become the only major party presidential candidate in history to not adhere to campaign spending caps, the Republican National Committee has begun an independent expenditure campaign in accordance with FEC regulations."
Under federal law there are no limits on how much the group can spend, though it cannot coordinate efforts with John McCain's campaign or the RNC. Still, both have helped to raise some of the funds that will launch the new effort.
So now we know where the RNC will be funneling some of its cash advantage over the Democratic National Committee to try to compensate for the record-breaking fundraising Obama has enjoyed. And the decision to target those Rust-Belt states underscores the GOP view that Obama is vulnerable in that part of the nation. Three of the four -- Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- went Democratic in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections.
Lot of white working-class men and women in those states, which account for 68 electoral votes.
In his initial run for the U.S. Senate in 2004, this fellow Barack Obama, who we seem to be hearing a lot about these days, was one of the very first beneficiaries of the so-called millionaire’s amendment that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Thursday.
Obama’s main Democratic primary foe that year was Blair Hull, a wealthy investor who poured $28 million of his own money into the campaign.
But under that same national campaign finance law, Hull’s immense personal spending on himself released Obama from the $2,100 per donor cap then in effect.
And it allowed him to raise his own campaign money in increments up to $12,000 per donor.
That national campaign finance law was co-written by another now familiar name, John McCain, the senator from Arizona.
Now, McCain is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who will face Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, on Nov. 4 to become president of these United States. Talk about unintended consequences.
Some analysts believe that Obama might well have lost that crucial first step onto the national political stage without the financial boost he received from McCain's law allowing him to gather....
"Star Wars" creator George Lucas was on Capitol Hill in Washington this week to testify on something or other and when there's no news to be heard, reporters start asking the silly questions.
They wanted him to liken modern politicians to his movie characters. Like, was Darth Vader based on Vice President Dick Cheney? Or something like that.
Anyway, Lucas, who's also responsible for harnessing the Force, played it cagey. Until he was asked if Sen. Barack Obama would be a Jedi knight.
Weeks after his presumptive Republican presidential competitor, Sen. Barack Obama is launching his first general election national television ad. And the subject -- patriotism -- shows where his campaign may feel he's weak right now.
It's a 60-second biographical spot that will run in 18 states. Candidates like to start off with bio ads so they're setting the stage with their own narrative, not responding to someone else's versions.
The ad, entitled "Country I Love," seeks to highlight Obama's biography and patriotism. Without military service, he stresses the upbringing of his family in the Kansas heartland and the values of working hard taught in his single-parent home and by his grandparents. He does not mention his life in Hawaii or Indonesia.
His campaign said it will start running the commercials Friday in Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Virginia.
"America is a country of strong families and strong values," the ad begins. "My life's been blessed by both.
"I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. We didn't have much money, but they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up. Accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses."
Our colleague John McCormick over at the Swamp has the ad's complete text.
As we noted on the actual day, June 11, it's been an eventful year that began with front-runners who ended in the rear. We wanted The Ticket to be a virtually round-the-clock, coast-to-coast operation with unpredictable items written in surprising ways.
We wish you could have been at our party. An amazing time. Hillary Clinton was there. A new pantsuit. Barack Obama was hitting everyone up for more money. Mitt Romneywas handing it out. Rudy Giuliani was taking some to cover his debts.
John Edwards was hedging on his plans. Fred Thompson was supposed to attend, but he overslept after another long two-hour campaign day. John McCain called for a 100-year party.
And Rep. Ron Paul, the millionaire with his money in precious metals, was warning everyone about an impending financial crisis if we don't dump the Fed. And Al Gore couldn't decide if he wasn't coming or not.
We've published some 2,300 items, received nearly 47,000 reader comments and more than 11.5 million page views in this last year. We're now ranked in the world's top 140 blogs and we thank you for that.
We look forward to thousands more items and comments and millions more readers through this historic election and way beyond.
As a gesture of our generosity here on The Ticket, we wanted everyone to have a piece of our cake. So here you go. Dig in. Enjoy. Thanks again.
On this, the first anniversary of our Top of the Ticket blog, we are reminded of the mercurial, unpredictable nature of U.S. politics -- part of what makes what we do so fascinating.
Our goal -- one of us on the East Coast and the other on the far more important or at least less humid West Coast -- was to write about Campaign '08 virtually around the clock.
Our second-ever posting, 12 months ago today, previewed an upcoming L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll; later in the day, we detailed the results of the nationwide survey. The findings were in line with other polls of the time.
In the Republican presidential race, which then seemed the most likely to last deep into the primary season, Rudy Giuliani was perched in first place. His lead wasn't overwhelming, but it was strong enough that he appeared certain to remain a major contender.
His liberal record on social issues loomed as an obvious liability within his party, but his tough-on-terrorism message was attracting substantial support from moderates and GOP-leaning independents.
His major headache among rivals last June was an as-yet-undeclared candidate who was riding a wave as the great conservative hope -- Fred Thompson. He ran a strong second in the poll.
Lagging far behind were John McCain and Mitt Romney, each barely with double-digit support. In our preview posting, we were especially scornful of McCain, noting sarcastically (and foolishly, as it turned out) that in the poll, he found himself "in heated competition with the 'Don't Know' category."
Meriting no mention from us was Mike Huckabee, one of several back-of-the-pack candidates barely earning any support across the country.
The Democratic race, at that point, seemed so much more cut-and-dried.
With all the sudden emergence of unity talk and who should be president at today's long-awaited endorsement of Barack Obama by Hillary Clinton, it's easy perhaps to forget that it wasn't so long ago that these two -- plus others involved in this historic Democratic nomination contest -- had some contrary, not-so-nice things to say about the party's new presumptive nominee.
Now here, like clockwork in the two-party political system, comes the Republican National Committee, which has cleverly assembled a series of film clips of both Clintons, John Edwards and Joe Biden talking about Obama in unflattering ways from the not-so-distant past. It has also created a lengthy web display of transcripts and videos here of Clinton's many criticisms of the man she now heartily endorses.
As these tit-for-tat political ploys go, this one packs a bit of a punch. Here's a little piece of timing to ponder. You remember how long it feels since that cold caucus night in Iowa when Obama took first and Clinton's third-place finish foretold fundamental troubles that ended with today's euthanasia of her flailing campaign?
Well, we're not quite halfway from that night until election day Nov. 4.
And in the remaining 21 weeks until then, we're pretty sure to see this video or pieces of it many more times.
Most everyone in the field of politics and those of us watching from the grandstands have focused on the Democratic family soap opera in recent days and weeks. And we've anticipated the compelling season finale that will unfold before our televised eyes in Washington this morning.
There, Sen. Hillary Clinton will officially admit defeat -- well, maybe she won't go quite that far.
But she will, as promised, appear to graciously and heartily endorse this upstart freshman senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, whose eloquence, quick learning and charisma prevented her from gaining her rightful White House political inheritance -- this time.
And if, God forbid or at least look the other way, Obama should not win the White House Nov. 4, her dutiful campaigning for the party ticket starting today won't hurt her chances come 2012. God help us, we're typing that date already.
Many of us have been debating Clinton's Tuesday night non-concession speech that was nearly downright defiant and if, when or how she'd accept the No. 2 spot or if it will even be offered (of course not).
Meanwhile, that wily old-timer from Arizona, who last summer said he'd "out-campaign" all his better-funded Republican rivals and then did just that, has been very busy.
Campaign sources tell The Times' political finance expert Dan Morain that Sen. John McCain had the best fundraising ...
John McCain, campaigning in Louisiana, simultaneously is making a play for Latino voters in Nevada and New Mexico -- likely battleground states in the fall. The campaign just released a Spanish-language radio ad to air in both states.
What's interesting that while his national focus seems to be national security, the targeted ads are all economy -- which he has acknowledged isn't exactly his strong suit. Here's the ad in Spanish, and the campaign-provided English translation is below:
"ANNOUNCER: When we are buying groceries, we don't have a political party. When we are filling up the gas tank, we are not Republicans, Democrats or Independents. We are Hispanics, and we all are hurting together in this uncertain economic time. We need someone that has a good economic plan, and that is John McCain. His plan is a realistic plan, not a political one, and it will help jump-start the local and national economies.
"He proposed to Congress a federal gas-tax holiday for the summer months. He wants middle-class families to pay less taxes so we can have more money in our pocket and less in Washington. And he wants to help families hurt by the housing crisis under his HOME Plan.
"He is optimistic and knows that we all, 'unidos,' together, Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, can find a better way to fill up our tanks, our shopping carts, and our dreams.
"That's why in (Nevada/New Mexico), 'Estamos Unidos con John McCain.'
"JOHN MCCAIN: I'm John McCain and I approve this message."
Rep. Ron Paul, the rebel Republican who's defying his party, its nominee and common political sense, is still campaigning, not so much for his party's nomination, which Sen. John McCain has locked up, but to change the direction of the party from within and to organize for future reform of the GOP, which has gone soft on him.
According to new campaign finance reports filed Tuesday by Paul forces and pored over by Times campaign finance expert Dan Morain, the strict constitutionalist Paul continues to campaign and spend. He spent $406,836 last month, about half of it ($207,000) on radio advertisements.
Tapping his loyalists for another $70,293 in contributions, Paul ended April with $4.71 million in the bank, his filed campaign finance report shows.
He has raised about $34.9 million during his 14-month presidential quest. The 72-year-old Texas representative, who's even older than McCain, spent $30.2 million on his GOP presidential effort. And, true to conservative form, he maintains absolutely zero campaign debt. Contrast that with Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton who, The Ticket misreported earlier today, raised $21 million last month and now still has almost $31 million in debt. (Her debt is actually closer to $21 million.)
CNN pegs Paul’s delegate count at 26.
One-time Republican presidential front-runner Rudolph Giuliani spent $65.3 million on his campaign and won only one single delegate, who has since been released.
Giuliani tapped himself last month, using $500,000 of his own money to help pay off his presidential campaign bills. He still owes $3.628 million. Among Giuliani’s lingering debts is $118,744 to AT&T; $295,093 to Verizon Wireless; and $451,736 to a New York charter air carrier. He continues to owe two of his companies a combined $217,000 for rent and security services.
Mark McKinnon, the advertising wizard who helped shape George W. Bush's two winning presidential bids and helped steer Arizona Sen. John McCain from political oblivion last summer to the Republican nomination, is bowing out of the current campaign.
Last summer McKinnon, who lives in Austin, announced he would leave the McCain effort if it was going up against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
As noted by The Times' Maeve Reston, McKinnon and his lucky black hat (that's not the lucky one in the picture) have been a fixture in the former POW's comeback campaign and part of the five-man strategy team including Rick Davis, Mark Salter, Charlie Black and Steve Schmidt.
But he's sticking by his vow that if the Democratic candidate was Obama, he would step off the McCain ad team because Obama's election "would send a great message to the country and the world."
The transition will occur over the next few weeks. He will, however, continue as an informal advisor. "I'm just getting off the front line making ads," he said.
Just in time for next week's Kentucky and Oregon Democratic primaries -- what do you want to bet they each win one? -- the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton has a new poster to play with.
Who could quit with this hanging around?
It's heroic, don't you think? Chairman Hillary. Like what's-his-name, the little guy with the crew cut who runs North Korea, and his dead father who had that immense goiter that everyone pretended not to see to avoid execution. Their grand portraits like this are everywhere, usually several stories tall.
We can see these everywhere. And you can read more about them in an entertaining piece by James Oliphant right here.
It's almost like they had Friday planned out as "Second Amendment Day" on the campaign trail.
Barack Obama started the day in Watertown, S.D., where he wrangled withJohn McCain and President Bush over foreign policy and appeasement. But he also talked about guns -- just hours before McCain was to address the National Rifle Assn. convention in Louisville, Ky. And the focus made it clear that McCain hopes, if Obama is the Democratic nominee, to exploit Obama's electoral weakness with white, working-class men.
Our colleague Nicholas Riccardi is with Obama and reports that the Illinois senator staked out his turf early today -- seemingly anticipating both McCain and the Republican National Committee, which launched a Web ad today on Obama and guns. Said Obama:
"There are a lot of Republicans who are mainly Republicans because they're worried the Democrats are going to take away their guns. In Chicago, we've had a lot of deaths as a consequence of illegal guns and gang shootings. In a lot of the country you've got a lot of illegal guns falling into the hands of criminals and gangbangers and people with mental problems. I want to restrict their access to guns. But I will never take away the rights of lawful gun owners to hunt, to sport-shooting, to protect their family."
Then came McCain. Our colleague Noam Levey is with him, and his story on McCain and the NRA will be in Saturday's paper and available online later tonight. Levey reports McCain mocked Obama before the gun enthusiasts:
"It seems every election, politicians who support restrictions on the Second Amendment dress up in camouflage and pose with guns to demonstrate they care about hunters, even though few gun owners fall for such obvious political theater. After Sen. Obama made his unfortunate comment -- an inaccurate and wrong comment -- that Pennsylvanians 'cling to guns and religion' out of bitterness, Sen. Clinton quickly affirmed her support for the Second Amendment. That drew Senator Obama's derision. 'She's running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen, how she values the Second Amendment,' he said. 'Like she's on the duck blind every Sunday, packin' a six-shooter!' Someone should tell Sen. Obama that ducks are usually hunted with shotguns."
Actor Alec Baldwin, who announced he was going to leave the United States if George W. Bush was elected president and then quietly changed his mind, is now talking about entering American politics himself.
The 49-year-old actor isn't really an archconservative television executive. But he does play one on TV, on the NBC show "30 Rock."
Here's another surprise for a Hollywood person: Baldwin actually has supported liberal causes in real life.
"There's other things I want to do [besides acting]," Baldwin tells Morley Safer in an interview Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes."
"I mean, in a matter of weeks, I'm going to be 50. There's no age limit on running for office, to a degree. Something I might do one day."
Two years ago, the Long Island native told the New York Times Magazine he thought he would like to be governor of New York. Asked if he was qualified to run for the office, he compared....
In an obvious attempt to be ignored for a while, Tom Hanks with no fanfare, news release or hoopla, late tonight put up a video on his MySpace page endorsing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president.
Had it come on, say, a Monday morning, the endorsement by the popular and widely-respected Hanks would have caused seismic shifts on those rock shelves that underlie Hollywood and promise to slide the place into the ocean someday.
Thanks to The Times' dauntless Tina Daunt, The Ticket, however, is right on top of this major international political story. "BEWARE," says the headline on Hanks' video, "Celebrity Endorsement."
"I'm Tom Hanks," Tom Hanks says directly into the camera in what looks like someone's den, "And I want Barack Obama to be the next president of our country. As an official celebrity, I know my endorsement has just made your mind up for you."
He continues in a straightfaced, tongue-in-cheek manner to seriously endorse the freshman senator. Hanks acknowledges all the candidates -- and some of their relatives, associates and supporters -- have made gaffes in recent weeks.
But he says he reads history sometimes and cites the groundbreaking peaceful turnover of power in 1797 from George Washington to John Adams as a major turning point in history. And says the same sort of corner can be turned by the election of the country's first African American president, a member of a race once officially considered only three-fifths of a person here.
He especially praises Obama's character and vision, integrity and ability to unify the country. Hanks' endorsement is a breath of good news for Obama after a few difficult weeks involving the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who Obama says is wrong.
Things have been relatively quiet on the Hollywood endorsement scene of late, since it's a given that most prominent celebrities there will be endorsing Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Just kidding. McCain's got Sylvester Stallone and that's it.
Hillary Clinton lined up Jack Nicholson too. And Obama has also been endorsed by Jane Fonda but that hasn't shown up on many billboards yet.
"I'm Tom Hanks," the actor/director/producer says at the end of his video, "I wrote and approved this message, and I am now going to turn off the camera." He gets up, walks around out of sight and the camera goes off.
Earlier this evening The Ticket provided a preview of the Top Ten Surprising Facts about himself that Sen. Barack Obama would reveal during his appearance on "The David Letterman Show" tonight.
Shortly after, as part of the continuous e-mail sparring between the two major parties and as they are paid insufficiently to do, the comedians over at the Republican National Committee distributed their own list: The Top Ten Reasons Barack Obama is Not Ready to Become Commander-in-Chief, with a different goal than laughs, of course:
10. Thinks our enemies will be peaceful if only we invite them over for coffee.
9. Yes? No? Present.
8. $1.52 gas? Vote to suspend the gas tax. $4 gas? Support the gas tax.
7. MoveOn.Org & Howard Dean = Obama’s “New Politics”
6. Chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Subcommittee in name only.
5. Guns are something voters “cling” to because they’re bitter.
4. Religion is something voters “cling” to because they’re bitter.
3. Withdraw from Iraq now, but return if Al Qaeda in Iraq takes hold in Iraq.
2. “Friendly” with unrepentant terrorists like Bill Ayers.
1. Would rather eat a waffle than answer tough questions.
The Democratic National Committee has unveiled a new 30-second ad attacking Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain.
Titled “100,” the ad -- which you can see below -- begins with footage of McCain, during a town-hall forum in New Hampshire in January, responding to a voter's comment about how long U.S. troops could be expected to remain in Iraq.
“President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years,” the audio of the voter says as his words appear on half of a split screen.
Well, gee what are you going to do, eh? States are states and so are state parties.
And so the North Carolina Republican Party has decided for its own internal reasons to defy its presumptive presidential nominee and run an anti-Obama ad -- or at least say it's going to run the ad so the news media will run it endlessly for them for free-- that Sen. John McCain and RNC head Mike Duncan say should be killed.
They've both said they sent messages to the state party chair Linda Daves, a little old lady also shown in the ad who looks like she's sitting in a rocker about to serve tea instead of ignite a political controversy.
The 30-second ad is really a two-bank shot for state consumption aimed at the two Democrats vying for their party's gubernatorial nomination on May 6.
As The Ticket has noted previously, both Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue and state Treasurer Richard Moore have endorsed Barack Obama who has a militant minister, therefore, according to the ad, they're not good. It doesn't involve McCain, who's says he hasn't seen the commercial but heard enough to dislike it.
It pictures, as shown here, Obama with his preacher of 20 years, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, with one clip of a now familiar infamous rant, saying, "No! No! No! Not God bless America. God bleep America!"
Referring to Perdue and Moore, it says, "They should know better. He's just too extreme for North Carolina." (Obama, not Wright.)
You can watch the ad here if you really must. McCain and Duncan obviously feel the ad is too extreme for them.
But if the Democrats can't yet figure out who their nominee's gonna be come November, it looks like the little old lady chair of the North Carolina Republican Party thinks she has.
We've got something really special this morning, possibly the last Sunday this spring The Ticket will be able to use the words "Keystone State."
As you know if you've been awake at any time since Texas and Ohio, Tuesday is the Pennsylvania primary, which seems to have been "the next one" for about eight months now. To get everyone warmed up for that and the usual laugh-riot Sunday morning talk shows, The Ticket is steering loyal readers to some political humor.
Sheigh Crabtree, one of our creative LATimes.com blogging pals over at Show Tracker, has come up with a pretty hilarious collection of online political parodies. They erupted from last week's, shall we say, much-discussed Democratic debate on ABC-TV, where a former top Clinton presidential aide helped question a current Clinton presidential aspirant and her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Here's one of Show Tracker's gems, a fictitious exchange between George Stephanopoulos and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama:
STEPHANOPOULOS: "Senator Obama, your childhood friend Jimmy Choi told us that as a six-year-old boy living in Honolulu, one day you were both engaged in a typical game of cops and robbers, running around your yard with plastic guns, when suddenly little Jimmy tripped and fell.
"Before you helped little Jimmy back to his feet, you stood over him and said, "Pow! Pow! Pow!" over and over again, seemingly taking great pleasure in unloading your fake gun into your supposed friend. How can Democrats vote for a candidate who has shown, beginning at the age of six, to have such little regard for human life?"
OBAMA: "You're serious."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "Yes, Senator, I am serious. But not bitter."
CLINTON: "If I may, George, I feel Senator Obama's response, to what I consider a legitimate question, is once again indicative of an arrogance and elitism that has offended many, many hard-working and proud Pennsylvanians. By the way, Charlie, my father once shot a man dead in Scranton just to watch him die."
You can also nominate your own favorite parody at Show Tracker. But, first, check out this newly uncovered ABC-TV program promotion video just below. Then, click here to visit Show Tracker.
Fridays have many good qualities. Normal people with normal jobs get to look forward to two days off. Payday for a lot of folks. Happy hour. Remember, the phrase is NOT "Thank God It's Tuesday." But it's also the day that Joshua Levy over at techPresident posts his favorite YouTube videos of the week.
Which means you get to save a lot of surfing time during the week looking at political videos and let Levy do the heavy lifting for you. Our fave from today's list: Leave Ralph Nader Alone, (see below) which is fascinating in a "the metal-punk band just moved in next door" kind of way. And it also reminds us of this classic ad.
New York magazine reports this morning that another former member of Bill Clinton's cabinet plans to announce his endorsement of Barack Obama today, joining Bill Richardson on the list of high-profile defections among the Clintons' longtime personal and political friends.
This time it's Robert Reich, Bill Clinton's former Labor secretary, current Berkeley professor and self-described friend of the Clintons for 40 years. Reich, who has been critical of the Clintons before, despite the friendship, reportedly will announce the endorsement at 10 a.m. PDT on his blog (cue James Carville).
Reich told reporter John Heilemann that he initially intended to stay out of the fray, primarily out of loyalty to the long friendship. But Clinton's post-"bitter" ads in Pennsylvania moved him to action.
"I've come to the point, after seeing those ads, where I can't in good conscience not say out loud what I believe about who should be president. Those ads are nothing but Republicanism. They're lending legitimacy to a Republican message that's wrong to begin with, and they harken back to the past 20 years of demagoguery on guns and religion. It's old politics at its worst — and old Republican politics, not even old Democratic politics. It's just so deeply cynical."
An organization backed by billionaire George Soros and other wealthy liberals spread $5.2 million to an array of left-leaning groups in the first quarter of the year, a campaign finance report filed today shows.
The Fund for America, an independent campaign group created by Soros, San Franciscan Rob McKay (a Taco Bell heir), and the Service Employees International Union, raised $4.1 million in the first 90 days of the year, pushing the total money harvest since its creation late last year to $10.8 million.
Soros gave $1 million to the group in February after giving $2.5 million in December. Los Angeles producer Stephen Bing chipped in $2.5 million in January, and Lee Fikes of Bonanza Oil Co., in Dallas, gave a measly $300,000, according to the report filed with the Internal Revenue Service, which oversees so-called 527 campaign organizations.
The Fund for America, in turn, donated money to an array of liberal and antiwar groups including $1.5 million to the Campaign to Defend America, $500,000 to America Votes; $200,000 to ACORN; and $100,000 to VoteVets.org.
It gave lesser amounts to organizations in several states including Michigan, Ohio and Minnesota, all of which could be important swing states in the November general election.
A conservative organization, Freedom’s Watch, had used Soros’ involvement in Internet-based fundraising in its own appeals earlier this year. Freedom’s Watch was created last year as a conservative answer to such groups.
At that time the New York Times reported that Freedom’s Watch would be funded with as much as $200 million. But the same newspaper recently said the group had fallen far short of its goals. Haven't we all?
“I had heard they were going to spend $100 million," a Republican consultant told The Times' Dan Morain the other day, "but I haven’t seen them spend 25 cents.”
Well, you better be enjoying all this presidential political theatre because it's costing America way, way more than any Hollywood blockbuster dud.
According to new tallies by the Campaign Finance Institute, the Center for Responsive Politics and the watchdog group Democracy 21, federal presidential and congressional candidates, the national parties, and the unaffiliated 527 groups have raised $1.71 billion during this election cycle.
Money is the root of all (political) evil. Please send more of it.
That's the gist of Hillary Clinton's latest fundraising appeal to supporters. "With 14 days to go until the people of Pennsylvania vote, the (Barack) Obama campaign has decided to go all-out," she warns in the e-mail sent this morning. "They're trying to end the race for the White House with an unyielding media blitz. Right now, we're being outspent 4-1 on Pennsylvania television.
"So now, here's what we have to ask ourselves: Have we come this far in our history-making contest for the Democratic nomination only to see the race decided not by the quality of our ideas but by the size of our opponent's media budget?"
In one sense, she's absolutely right: Obama is outspending her campaign in Pennsylvania, on the strength of a record-breaking, more-than-$200 million fundraising haul that includes $40 million gathered in March. Clinton, on the other hand, has raised nearly $200 million herself this campaign.
And although it appears she trails Obama in available cash, her campaign coffers are healthy enough that today her campaign let loose with five new ads in Pennsylvania (which holds its closely watched primary in exactly two weeks).
The spots are tailored for different constituencies in the large state. As spelled out in a release from her campaign, they "highlight Hillary's ability to get the job done as president -- her commitment to jump-starting our economy, standing up for the middle class, and bringing quality, universal healthcare to all Americans. 'Nuestra Amiga,' a Spanish language ad, highlights Hillary's understanding of the Latino community and the problems it faces."
One of them features Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter explaining, in a few sentences, why he supports Clinton -- something black politicians in her corner increasingly have been called on to do, in the face of Obama's successes.
Our international colleagues over on La Plaza have stirred up a hornet's nest with a posting about a vodka company ad running in Mexico that puts the U.S.-Mexican border in an "Absolut World" at about the Washington-Oregon border .
Never mind the impact on the Pac-10 sports schedule -- who would UCLA and USC play, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico? -- what would the impact be on the presidential campaign? You know, just hypothetically speaking, over a glass of vodka on a Friday afternoon.
Well, Hillary Clinton would be out -- the Latino vote in the current Southwest would be voting in Mexico -- so you gotta figure Barack Obama facing off against John McCain in the general (assuming McCain moves from Arizona).
And without all the wild-eyed liberals out here in California voting, that leaves the northern tier, the Midwest, the Deep South and the Northeast. Advantage: McCain?
You know, if it was an Absolut World. But what we're having the most trouble envisioning is that border fence along the Columbia River.
In what could prove both a significant addition to his foreign policy credentials and a boost for the close Indiana primary, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois this afternoon scored the endorsement of former Rep. Lee Hamilton, one of the Democratic Party's leading foreign affairs experts.
Hamilton, a 35-year House member from Indiana, which holds its presidential primary May 6, chaired the Committee on Foreign Affairs and co-chaired both the 9/11 commission and the Iraq Study Group.
“I read his national security and foreign policy speeches," Hamilton told Bloomberg News today, "and he comes across to me as pragmatic, visionary and tough. He impresses me as a person who wants to use all the tools of presidential power.”
The backing of Hamilton, who was said to be on the list of possible vice presidential partners for Bill Clinton in 1992, could help Obama, who's been criticized for his foreign policy inexperience.
Both his Democratic presidential competitor, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, and the Republicans' presumptive nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who has many years of foreign policy experience, have attacked some Obama foreign policy statements.
Hamilton said he particularly agreed with Obama's stand on meeting with adversarial foreign leaders without preconditions and on Obama favoring possible unilateral military action against terrorist hideouts, although in the case of Pakistan that would be attacking a staunch ally.
He may be lagging in Pennsylvania polls, but Sen. Barack Obama is outspending Sen. Hillary Clinton by about three-to-one in the statewide television advertising campaign, according to an independent analyst. Even if Obama can't overcome Clinton’s apparent voter advantage in that April 22 primary, Obama plans to make Clinton pay for the fight and draw down her more limited resources for the ongoing struggle elsewhere.
"He has dropped a couple million bucks in his first week on the air there," says Evan Tracey, chief operating officer for Campaign Media Analysis, a TNS company, an independent analyst of campaign media advertising. "If you judged it against Clinton’s, in a basketball game, it would be a rout."
The Obama campaign is spending about $150,000 a day now on TV advertising in Pennsylvania, Tracey said in an interview, compared to about $50,000 for the Clinton camp.
Since Obama turned on his TV campaign in the Keystone State on March 21, Tracey said, he's spent about $2 million. Since Clinton started her ads there on the 25th, she's spent about $440,000.
"Part of it is putting his fundraising advantage to work," Tracey said. “If he spends a lot there, she has to spend a lot to keep up with him…. He is buying at high levels, a strategy to bring her into a war of attrition she can’t afford.''
"Strategically there is no downside to it," Tracey added. Obama "is not going to burn through his cash… He floods the state with a couple weeks of ads… If he doesn’t see any noticeable tick in the polls he might pull back… But any dollar she spends in Pennsylvania is a dollar she can’t spend in Indiana or North Carolina…Tactically, you're forcing her to get into a fight."
With a half-dozen media markets in Pennsylvania, the biggest and costliest are Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
By one media account, Obama is purchasing close to 2,000 "gross ratings points" of advertising in these markets – enough for the typical viewer to see an an ad 20 times during a cycle of ads. But the quality of those points is also critical –- with news programs and prime-time TV costing more money. He's also bought a lot of prime-time TV, putting close to 40 percent of his money there, Tracey says. That’s a good way to "expand your coalition," he notes.
-- Mark Silva
Mark Silva writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau.
Campaigns, like athletic contests or even chess games, comprise millions of small decisions made by individual staffers or committees, shaping a series of messages into events, speeches, ads and so much more that communicate a consistent positive message about the candidate that accumulates in the minds of voters.
There will be good days and bad days, but generally the message must have sufficient Teflon to resist attacks from competing campaigns, and the staff needs to avoid the "Hey, batter batter" distractions that inevitably arise in political competitions with no written rules or league commissioners and they must maintain a clear vision to objectively judge their own work.
At the time these decisions seem little. But they are telltale for political watchers. Take, for example, Sen. Hillary Clinton's concession speech in....
And, it should be pointed out, avoid federal spending limits.
The folks at VoterVoter.com have gone live with a website that lets you upload your own ad for a candidate or a cause, or to chip in money to buy airtime to place an already existing ad. You can even target wher
