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The John McCain "Straight Talk Express" rolled into Hudson, Wis., this morning for a town hall session on women in business. But the conversation wasn't all business, as the attendees also got a prescription from Cindy McCain on weight loss, our colleague Maeve Reston reports.
These kinds of events usually feature two or three introductory speakers, and first up this morning was J&L Steel Erectors Chief Executive LouAnne Reger. She told the crowd of more than 500 people -- mostly women -- about her two divorces, losing weight and a recent Nordstrom shopping trip. Cindy McCain then followed with her own weight-loss experience.
The best way to lose 30 pounds, she said, was to get out on the campaign trail. As proof: The white pants she was wearing were two sizes too big, she said. This, as Reston points out, comes from a woman who told Vogue that she wears size 0 Lucky Jeans. Not the kind of detail that's likely to strike a chord of empathy. Or, for that matter, the kind of experience the women in the crowd -- any crowd -- could replicate. How many will have a chance to hit the presidential campaign trail, as spouses or candidates?
Before the session began, the attendees were sung to by a barbershop quintet wearing American flag ties. The song list? "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," "A Bicycle Built for Two" and "You Raise Me Up" (dedicated to the women in the crowd who have been "touched by cancer").
By the time it was candidate McCain's turn, Reston reports, he looked very relieved to get the mic.
-- Scott Martelle
ABC's "This Week": John McCain supporter Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas); Barack Obama supporter Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.); Red Cavaney, American Petroleum Institute; and Jeffrey Sachs, the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Panel: Donna Brazile, Matthew Dowd, Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson.
CBS' "Face the Nation": McCain advisor Carly Fiorina; Obama supporter Gov. Bill Richardson (D-N.M.); John Harris, Politico.
CNN's "Late Edition": The economy: Obama supporter Gov. Richardson and McCain supporter Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.). Offshore oil, the economy: Obama supporter Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) and McCain supporter Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.). The economy: Obama advisor former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and McCain advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin. The hunt for Osama Bin Laden; Iraq: Pakistani journalist-author Ahmed Rashid ("Descent Into Chaos") and Peter Bergen. Panel: Gloria Borger, Amy Walter, Ed Henry.
"Fox News Sunday": Obama advisor former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and McCain supporter former Gov. Tom Ridge (R-Pa.). Kathleen Rogers, Earth Day Foundation. Panel: Brit Hume, Nina Easton, Bill Kristol, Juan Williams.
"Meet the Press": Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.). Panel: John Harwood, Andrea Mitchell. Moderator: Brian Williams.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: Babson College
Don't bring a knife to a gun fight, the old saying goes, but Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has suddenly escalated his rhetoric this weekend.
Sounds like he's anticipating some tough political struggling with the Republicans in these next few months, or trying to create that impression anyway. Or he just watched a 21-year-old movie (see video below).
"If they bring a knife to the fight," Obama told a crowd in Philadelphia last night about his Republican opponents, "we bring a gun."
Say what? This is only June! For pete's sake.
Is this the new kind of politician full of hope who wants to change Washington's ways? He anticipates some kind of close-in fighting with his 71-year-old opponent, John McCain, and his gang of GOP suits with their own secret signs?
Obama was responding to a man in the Pennsylvania crowd who, as the freshman Illinois senator was describing the no-doubt nefarious tactics he expects from GOP opponents this fall, shouted out, "Don't give in!"
"From what I understand, folks in Philly like a good brawl," Obama went on, according to the pooled press report. "I've seen Eagles fans."
Set aside for a moment the dissonant sound of an urban lawmaker speaking lightly about guns.
Or how about the fact that he stole that line from Sean Connery in "The Untouchables," which is from Chicago too, come to think of it. See video below. For a little more on this story, go here.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo Credit: AP
Two bits of campaign jab-and-spin, or, the debate about the debate.
This letter is from John McCain's campaign manager Rick Davis this morning to Barack Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe: "Dear Mr. Plouffe,
"Thank you for responding to our proposal. Just to reiterate, we have proposed at least ten joint town hall meetings once a week until the week before the Democratic Convention begins. As we understand your counter-proposal, you have proposed only one town hall meeting before the Democratic Convention.
"In keeping with our original proposal, we are planning a joint town hall meeting in Minnesota next Thursday evening (June 19, 2008). We will hold time on our schedule for joint town halls every Thursday night until the Democratic Convention. I hope Sen. Obama would reconsider his position and agree to join Senator McCain as early as next week.
"We have also today accepted the invitation from Mrs. Ronald Reagan, Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson to attend town hall meetings in July at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. As Mrs. Johnson said, these town halls will truly be an opportunity to "deliberate the great issues of our time." Their sponsorship certainly meets our standards for a positive and productive opportunity for voters to interact with the candidates. I hope you will agree.
"However, at this moment, we fear that our negotiations over joint town hall meetings are turning into a debate about process. That is exactly what we have always hoped to avoid, and why we proposed a town hall format that would render many of these process issues moot. As Sen. Obama has said, he is prepared to meet 'anywhere, anytime' for a town hall.
"We remain committed to this idea because joint town hall meetings offer the best format for presenting both candidates' visions for our country's future in a substantive way. We have a chance to change the way presidential elections are run and elevate the political dialogue. Americans deserve this kind of opportunity, and we hope that Sen. Obama will join us at town hall meetings throughout the summer months."
This from Plouffe: "Barack Obama offered to meet John McCain at five joint appearances between now and Election Day—the three traditional debates plus a joint town hall on the economy in July and an in-depth debate on foreign policy in August. That package of five engagements would have been the most of any Presidential campaign in the modern era -- offering a broad range of formats -- and representing a historic commitment to openness and transparency.
"It's disappointing that Senator McCain and his campaign decided to decline this proposal. Apparently they would rather contrive a political issue than foster a genuine discussion about the future of our country.
"Sen. Obama believes that the American people deserve an open and accessible debate as they choose between real change and four more years of failed Bush policies, and he welcomed McCain’s invitation to offer voters 'the rare opportunity of witnessing candidates for the highest office in the land discuss civilly and extensively the great issues at stake in the election.'"
Now, doesn't this new kind of politics make you feel positively warm and fuzzy? And stuck in a time warp?
-- Scott Martelle
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.
Hillary Clinton was the clear front-runner; Barack Obama was just as clearly ...
Read more Top of the Ticket, the start of Year Two »
Our colleague Maeve Reston reports from Baton Rouge that John McCain, the war veteran, wants a little direct engagement with Barack Obama: A series of town halls beginning June 12. The initial response from Obamaland -- not a bad idea. And apparently the two sides aren't planning much of a summer vacation.
Reston reports that McCain has raised the idea before, citing the never-held sessions agreed to between Barry Goldwater and John Kennedy for the 1964 election. McCain told supporters this morning he had sent a letter to the Obama campaign suggesting the joint appearances.
"I don’t think we need any big media-run productions, no process questions from reporters, no spin rooms -- just two Americans running for the highest office in the greatest nation on earth responding to the concerns of the people whose trust we must earn," McCain said. "I even suggested we travel to them together on the same plane; it would probably help out on energy savings. Given our expenses, I know my campaign would agree to it."
McCain wants 10 joint town-hall meetings over the summer, ending before the Democratic National Convention, each held before 200 to 400 voters with an independent moderator.
From David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager: "As Barack Obama has said before, the idea of joint town halls is appealing and one that would allow a great conversation to take place about the need to change the direction of this country. We would recommend a format that is less structured and lengthier than the McCain campaign suggests, one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. But, having just secured our party’s nomination, this is one of the many items we will be addressing in the coming days and look forward to discussing it with the McCain campaign."
Considering the little spurt of synchronicity between Obama and McCain Tuesday on transparency, we're astounded by all this agreeableness. Can it last? Um, probably not.
-- Scott Martelle
ABC's "This Week": Former Bush Press Secretary Scott McClellan (pictured) and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe. Round-table with Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, the New York Times' David Brooks, Vanity Fair's Todd Purdum and commentator George Will.
Bloomberg's "Political Capital with Al Hunt": Ralph Reed, Republican strategist and former director of the  Christian Coalition.
CBS' "Face the Nation": Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
CNN's "Late Edition": Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez and Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen. Round-table discussion with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, Fareed Zakaria and Jeffrey Toobin.
CNN's "Reliable Sources": National Review's David Frum, ABC's Martha Raddatz, former President Clinton Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, Hollywood Reporter's Ray Richmond, former New York Times Hollywood correspondent Sharon Waxman and CNN's Fareed Zakaria.
C-SPAN's "Newsmakers": Freddie Mac CEO Richard Syron, interviewed by AP's Alan Zibel and Congressional Quarterly's Benton Ives.
"FOX News Sunday": Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton's communication director, and David Bonior, spokesman for Barack Obama and former Michigan congressman. Power Player of the Week is Brendan Sullivan, executive director of Headfirst. Panel discussion with Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard, Nina Easton of Fortune Magazine, Byron York of the National Review and Juan Williams of National Public Radio.
MSNBC's "Chris Matthews Show": Richard Stengel, editor of Time magazine; Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Howard Fineman of Newsweek; Kelly O'Donnell of NBC News.
MSNBC's Tim Russert: Charles Osgood, author of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House: Humor, Blunders, and Other Oddities from the Presidential Campaign Trail," and presidential historian Michael Beschloss.
NBC's "Meet the Press": McClellan.
-- Don Frederick
Photo credit: Associated Press
George McGovern's call for an end to the Vietnam War propelled him to the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. Now, he's asking the two rivals for this year's nod to give peace a chance -- or, at the least, take concrete steps toward presenting a unified front.
As part of the walk-up to Tuesday's primary in his home state of South Dakota, McGovern has proposed that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaign together. There would be one precondition, he told the Sioux Falls-based Argus Leader newspaper: "No attacks on each other. We've had enough of that."
According to the story, Clinton is willing to give it a go. The Obama camp has been more equivocal; McGovern said it did not rule out a joint appearance, but warned that the candidate's schedule already is jampacked.
McGovern, running on his anti-war platform, got crushed by then-President Richard Nixon in the general election 36 years ago. We doubt the prospects for his Clinton-Obama detente plan, at this point, are much better.
-- Don Frederick
Based on the presentations (and presenters) at the annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in New Haven, Conn., today, one could easily conclude that the two leading presidential candidates had taken the roles of the two guys in the Apple commercials.
Both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama sent surrogates to the confab.  For Obama, it was Daniel J. Weitzner, far right in photo, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is a member of the campaign's technology, media and telecommunications committee. Weitzner, who helped draft the campaign's tech policy positions, looked Steve Jobs-cool in his light tan blazer and open-collared pink shirt. And he had his Mac laptop with him on the lectern.
Carrying water for McCain was campaign special counsel Chuck Fish, far left. An intellectual property lawyer by trade, he took a more buttoned-down, corporate approach: dark gray suit, white shirt and tie. And no obvious sign of any Apple products.
The Mac/PC comparison really jumped out...
Read more Is Barack Obama a Mac and John McCain a PC? »
Signaling he's not about to let the "appeasement" issue die, Barack Obama moments ago scored President Bush and John McCain on foreign policy. Speaking at a forum on agricultural issues in Watertown, S.D., Obama slammed the Republicans for contending that he was willing to negotiate with terrorists.
"They're trying to scare you and trying to keep you from seeing the truth," Obama told a cheering crowd packed into an agricultural arena. "And the reason is, they can't win a foreign policy argument on the merits."
Our colleague, Nicholas Riccardi, was in the arena, and reports the crowd booed as Obama described how Bush criticized him during his speech to Israel's Knesset. "That's the sort of appalling attack that divides our country and alienates us from the world," Obama said.
The audience booed again as Obama said that McCain, after a morning speech pledging bipartisanship and civility, "jumped on a call with a bunch of bloggers and said I wasn't fit to protect this country that I love.... So much for civility."
Tough talk won't be enough to push Iran to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, Obama said, adding that "tough" negotiations could make a difference. "I'm running for president to change course," Obama said, "not to continue George Bush's course."
Obama put the war front and center, arguing that it has left the nation at greater risk, and jabbed McCain for projecting a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq by 2013. Obama recalled an offhand remark by McCain in New Hampshire that he'd be happy to have troops in Iraq for 100 years, a line Democrats have used against him ever since.
"I think he noticed it wasn't polling well," Obama said.
UPDATE: Tucker Bounds, McCain's spokesman, responds. "It was remarkable to see Barack Obama’s hysterical diatribe in response to a speech in which his name wasn’t even mentioned. These are serious issues that deserve a serious debate, not the same tired partisan rants we heard today from Senator Obama. Sen. Obama has pledged to unconditionally meet with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad -- who pledges to wipe Israel off the map, denies the Holocaust, sponsors terrorists, arms America’s enemies in Iraq and pursues nuclear weapons. What would Sen. Obama talk about with such a man? It would be a wonderful thing if we lived in a world where we don’t have enemies. But that is not the world we live in, and until Sen. Obama understands that, the American people have every reason to doubt whether he has the strength, judgment and determination to keep us safe."
--Scott Martelle
Here it is again, our regular Saturday noon Ticket Notice listing of the Sunday morning TV talk shows, so you can choose who you're going to talk back to from your couch.
ABC's "This Week": Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), McCain supporter a nd former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina, and a round table with the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus, ABC News' Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts and George Will
Bloomberg's "Political Capital With Al Hunt": Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.)
CBS's "Face the Nation": John Edwards, McAuliffe and Politico's Jim VandeHei
CNN's "Late Edition": Reps. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez (Ret.), Iraqi Ambassador to the U.S. Samir Sumaidaie, and a round table with CNN's Ed Henry and Jessica Yellin
C-SPAN's "Newsmakers": Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) will be interviewed by New York Times congressional reporter David Herszenhorn  and Damian Paletta of the Wall Street Journal.
"Fox News Sunday": Obama strategist David Axelrod and Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson; the power player is Ben Stein.
MSNBC's "The Chris Matthews Show": Ron Allen, NBC News Clinton campaign correspondent; Katty Kay, BBC American politics correspondent; John Heilemann, political reporter, New York magazine; and Michelle Cottle, senior editor, the New Republic
MSNBC's "Tim Russert": Barbara Walters, TV journalist and author of "Audition"
NBC's "Meet the Press": Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), Clinton chairman Terry McAuliffe, and a round table with Washingtonpost.com's Chris Cillizza, CNBC's John Harwood, NPR's Michele Norris and the Wall Street Journal's Gerald Seib
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photos: Associated Press
Chris Matthews will be forever linked with the word "Hardball" (the name for his talk show on MSNBC, incidentally, was derived from a book he wrote).
But Matthews played a little softball for Barack Obama Monday night during an appearance at a Harvard University forum during which he was pressed about perceptions of bias in the cable network's campaign coverage.
When asked by an audience member about how he responds to claims that MSNBC officially supports Obama, the Harvard Crimson notes today, "Matthews responded with typical 'Hardball' wit: 'Well, it's not official.'''
The Crimson correspondent also reports that Matthews sang Obama's praises throughout his speech, calling the Illinois Democrat a symbol of the change that the country needs. "We need to elect a president who has been a student of the world and is a student of the world," Matthews said.
Matthews himself, in case you were otherwise occupied a few weekends back, was the subject of a cover-story profile in the New York Times Sunday magazine.
-- Mark Silva and Don Frederick
Mark Silva writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau.
A small but revealing shift today by the Obama campaign in the public packaging of its candidate, who's caught some flak in recent weeks for his elitist comments and references. (Not to mention Rev. Jeremiah Wright.)
Clearly that elite criticism touched an Obama nerve as the multimillionaire, Ivy League-educated lawyer Hillary Clin ton goes about the Rust Belt downing shots in urban taverns, talking about hunting and "buying" gas with a sheet metal worker. It paid off for her in dominating the recent primary results among the small working class towns of central Pennsylvania.
So Barack Obama and his surrogates began a barrage of seemingly casual comments noting he was the child of a single mother who once used food stamps. No more talk in possibly bitter small towns of Harvard, Columbia and the outrageous price of arugula in Hyde Park these days.
But now, instead of being introduced by the usual local politicians or officials at his public events as a reward in local publicity for their backing, the honor of preceding the candidate on stage and saying a few words to the crowd and cameras is being awarded to regular folks chosen by his advance teams.
The goal: to counter a perception among many that...
Read more Obama tweaks public events to stress regular guy but then came the roller rink »
Barack Obama's two little girls are too young to date yet, but if their dad were to end up serving two White House terms, they might want to take heed of some recollections from Hillary Clinton today.
At a forum in North Carolina that, as the Associated Press story put it, focused less on politics and more on "chick chat," Clinton reminded her audience that Chelsea, her daughter (and current key campaign surrogate), "was a teenager in White House, which meant that the Secret Service went on her dates. A lot of her girlfriends' mothers loved it when they double dated because there was a guy with a gun in the front seat."
She offered no word on how the guys courting Chelsea felt about that.
But she did concede that for those fellows, "it was really intimidating to talk to her father. And, I guess, to me."
The gathering was sponsored by the website momlogic.com, which has more on it here.
-- Don Frederick
Photo Credit: AP
Small-town folks just aren't getting much respect these days from some big-time politicians.
Indeed, the phenomenon has become bipartisan -- add California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, to the list that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama started when he famously opined that those living in lesser populated areas often "cling" to guns, God and other matters out of  bitterness over their economic plight.
Obama made his comments at a private event in San Francisco; Schwarzenegger was less discreet, holding forth during an appearance Wednesday at a conference in Beverly Hills (a gathering hosted by billionaire Michael Milken, whose post-prison endeavors include running an economic think tank).
As detailed by the Sacramento Bee, Schwarzenegger was reflecting on how international travel broadens one's horizons. To drive his point home, he said:
"I always encourage the legislators in Sacramento (to take foreign trips), because some of them come from those little towns. You know what I'm saying? They come from those little towns and they don't have that vision yet of an airport.
"Or of a highway that maybe has 10 lanes or of putting a highway on top of a highway. They look at you and they say, 'Well, we don't have that in my town. What are you talking about?' So they are kind of shocked when you say certain things."
The Bee story reported that his comments sparked laughter and applause from his cosmopolitan crowd.
It also ...
Read more Like Barack Obama, Gov. Schwarzenegger offers small town "insight" »
Well, here's a most interesting connection we just came across.
Everybody is talking today about how much the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's latest unrepentant militant remarks hurt his most prominent parishoner, Sen. Barack Obama, and his chances to win the Democratic presidential nomination and the general election. So much so that the Obama camp realized the latent danger overnight and the candidate was forced to speak out publicly a second time today, as The Ticket noted here earlier today.
There was little doubt left in today's remarks by Obama, who recently said he could no more disown Wright than he could the black community. He pretty much disowned Wright today. Obama described himself as "outraged" and "saddened" by "the spectacle of what we saw yesterday."
But now, it turns out, we should have been paying a little less attention to Wright's speech and the histrionics of his ensuing news conference and taken a peek at....
Read more Was Jeremiah Wright's speech set up by a Clinton supporter? »
As Sen. Barack Obama's rivals have sought to paint him as a liberal elitist in recent weeks -- and he helped them with some inartful phrasing at a San Francisco fundraiser about "bitter" small-t own people -- there is at least one aspect of his personality and background that does help feed that caricature.
Meet Prof. Obama, the sometimes aloof campaigner who can come across as a bit smug and has been known to talk about such things as arugula, an upscale leafy green, in places like corn-fed Iowa.
Although his powerful oratory often wins praise, attending Obama campaign events can sometimes feel like sitting in a classroom, albeit with a lecturer decidedly more fiery than your average college professor.
As much as Obama's wife, Michelle, has talked about his tendency to leave clothing scattered about their home or forget to put away the butter, there is no question that he likes order, especially when in front of his classroom.
"Everybody have a seat," he said during a recent stop in Gary, Ind., as he finished a speech and prepared to take questions. "We've still got a little more work to do."
As the crowd sat down, Obama provided his students with guidance on how to address their professor.
"Now, there are only a few rules. Rule No. 1: Raise your hand. Don't shout out at me, because there are going to be more questions than I have time," he said. "No. 2: Wait for a microphone in the audience, so that everybody can hear your question. No. 3: Please introduce yourself. No. 4: I'm going to go boy, girl, boy, girl, so that nobody thinks I'm biased."
Hope you got that, 'cause he's not gonna repeat it.
-- John McCormick
John McCormick writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington Bureau.
Photo: Joe Raymond / Associated Press
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OMG, will you look at that? Amazing what a protracted primary struggle amid bitter small towns will do to previously stated political positions.
The flag pin is back on the lapel of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. No, really.  Look closely at his left lapel in this photo from MSNBC on Tuesday.
You may recall Obama removed the lapel flag pin last fall as something of a gesture of independence if you're an Obama fan -- or an act of defiant antiwar non-patriotism if you're not.
At the time Obama removed the pin, which most politicians had worn on their suit coats since 9/12 as a sign of patriotism, solidarity with 9/11 victims and their families and national support for American troops.
However, when a sharp-eyed local ABC-TV reporter in Iowa asked him, half-jokingly, about it in October, Obama went on to explain seriously at some length:
"You know, the truth is that right after 9/11, I had a pin. Shortly after 9/11, particularly because as we're talking about the Iraq war, that became a substitute for, I think, true patriotism, which is speaking out on issues that are of importance to our national security, I decided I won't wear that pin on my chest.
"Instead," Obama added rather grandiosely, "I'm going to try to tell....
Read more Breaking News: Obama caves! Flag pin returns to his coat lapel »
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she cannot imagine why former President Bill Clinton would have resurrected the saga of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s tale of arriving in Bosnia amid "sniper fire."
"He may have been having a late-night adult moment," the San Francisco Democrat said during an interview Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Attempting to explain his wife’s admittedly misspoken overstatement about the circumstances surrounding her landing in Bosnia in 1996, the former president suggested last Thursday that it’s only natural that candidates get tired on the campaign trail: "Some of them, when they’re 60, they’ll forget something when they’re tired at 11 o'clock at night, too."
Never mind that the senator had related the same tale a few times, and not only at night. Maybe Bill Clinton (who's 61) was showing his 60 side as well, Pelosi said with a laugh.
Sen. Barack Obama says he too has misspoken, ...
Read more Bill Clinton's "late-night adult moment" -- and other campaign code words »
Perhaps being shot down over enemy territory, fished out of a lake with two broken arms and a broken knee, and incarcerated for nearly six years as a prisoner of war makes Sen. John McCain less intimida ted than other politicians at the thought of speaking to unfriendly audiences.
After all, what's a little heckling after you've endured years of North Vietnamese imprisonment and torture?
That thought came to mind last week as McCain spoke in Memphis to an African-American crowd gathered outside the Lorraine Motel, the site of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr'.s 1968 assassination.
The venue was certainly well beyond the typical suburban comfort zone of many presidential candidates especially Republicans. And especially for Republicans named McCain who voted against the....
Read more McCain launches his general campaign with risky style he likes »
Now that everybody is dismissing it, we know there's really something up for sure about Condoleezza Rice possibly becoming a vice presidential candidate with  the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain.
Obviously, the choice is his. He's stubborn enough not to be pushed.
And he's said publicly that his campaign team has just begun to assemble a long list of possibilities. (You don't want any party VP wannabes thinking they were overlooked, even if ultimately not chosen.)
The Arizona senator wants the No. 2 choice to be well-prepared when the announcement time comes, unlike, say, a certain former senator from Indiana whose name is the same as those helpless little birds that all the current vice presidents like to blast with large guns.
The speculation about Rice began two weeks ago, chronicled in detail on The Ticket, when within days in between foreign trips she complimented Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on his race speech, spent a long time with the editorial board of the conservative Washington Times and published the transcript of the session on the State Department website.
Then she spoke at the regular Wednesday conservative brainstorming session presided over by the bearded and ubiquitous Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform.
Because it is THE place for conservatives to present themselves and programs before a wide array of important....
Read more Where there's more Republican VP smoke, there's more Condi Rice »
Barack Obama continued today to tread the fine line he's been walking in discussing the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Meeting up with MSNBC's Chris Matthews for a lengthy interview in front of a college crowd in Pennsylvania, Obama disassociated himself from the more extreme comments uttered by his ex-pastor, but not from the man himself.
And while insisting -- as he has previously -- that he was not present when Wright made the pronouncements that fueled the recent furor, he steered clear of specifying the "controversial" statements he has said he did hear from the preacher.
Left hanging was the question that may determine Obama's political fate -- will his approach to the flap suffice?
Matthews assuredly would have broached the topic of Wright, but it was raised first by a student at West Chester University, who asked Obama how the uproar had affected his "spiritual life."
Obama made a point of noting he is a Christian who prays "every night." He wryly added: "And when you’re running for president, you pray even more."
He called the controversy that erupted over Wright and his relationship to him "a difficult moment. You know, this is somebody who, on the one hand, is a good man, but said some things that I deeply disagree with."
Matthews returned to the matter later, asking why ...
Read more Barack Obama again faces queries about Rev. Wright »
By its applause, shouts and a show of hands that host Chris Matthews asked for, the crowd at West Chester University near Philadelphia already was overwhelmingly in Barack Obama's corner when the Democratic presidential candidate sat down today for an edition of MSNBC's "Hardball" talk show situated at the college.
But Obama didn't waste any time in sealing the deal.
One of the first questions posed by Matthews focused on Iraq and Obama ticked off what by now are his familiar refrains. He noted that, unlike Hillary Clinton, he opposed President Bush's push to invade Iraq from the start. While acknowledging that both he and Clinton have basically the same plans for extracting U.S. troops, he questioned whether "mission creep" would result from her caveat that some troops may need to stay there to guard against meddling by Iran. And he scorned presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain for talking about the prospect of a "permanent occupation" by America in Iraq.
Then he added a detail perfectly tailored for his listeners. Decrying the war's costs of $10 billion to $12 billion a month, he noted that the money instead could be spent on college scholarships.
Cue another burst of loud cheers.
-- Don Frederick
Barack Obama stood by his church today (especially its choir).
And, although he was not directly questioned about him, he also had some comments about his longtime (though now retired) minister, Jeremiah Wright.
At a forum in Greensboro, N.C. -- his one event after a brief R&R trip with his family to the Caribbean -- Obama was asked by a student from a nearby Christian college to discuss the role Jesus Christ plays in his life.
As part of his lengthy response, the Democratic presidential candidate broached the topic that no doubt had made a vacation all the more tempting for him -- the spotlight cast upon Wright's inflammatory remarks about racial relations and America.
Obama said the pastor had said some "very objectionable things when I wasn't in church on those particular days."
But he also stressed that Wright gave at least three sermons a week for 30 years, and that people opposed to Obama's candidacy had found "five or six of his most offensive statements" and boiled them down to play over and over, mainly on YouTube.
"I hope people don't get distracted by that," he said.
Before those comments, Obama said that Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, where Wright had presided, "is a wonderful, welcoming church. If you were there on any given Sunday, folks would be doing the same things in church at Trinity as they do everywhere else. They're praising Jesus. They've got a choir singing. It's a very good choir. And the pastor is trying to teach a lesson to connect Scripture to our everyday lives."
And before that, in addressing more directly the query about Jesus, he said he believes in a Gospel ...
Read more Barack Obama talks about his church, the Rev. Wright and his mom »
He came close. Oh, so close. But Bill Richardson stopped just short early this afternoon of endorsing one of his former competitors for the Democratic presidential nomination -- a coy game he's played before.
Speaking at a conference on rogue states and diplomacy at the UCLA Ronald W. Burkle Center for International Relations, Richardson was asked by moderator Maggie Farley, who covers the United Nations for The Times, who he thought was best able to handle both the domestic and international challenges facing America.
Richardson, as New Mexico governor, is a Democratic Party superdelegate, and he demurred on the question. But his answer still served as tea leaves to be read. "I'm truly conflicted," Richardson said. "I'm torn. I see ... a lot of loyalty I owe President Clinton. He made me U.N. ambassador. He made me secretary of Energy. He's treated me extremely well. But you know what? I paid him back. Because I served well." Richardson described Hillary Clinton as "enormously capable ... but I did run against her."
Then he focused on Barack Obama, someone he said "I don't know as well. But I think there's ...
Read more Bill Richardson stops short of endorsing her or him »
Judging by the viewing success of recent televised political debates, it seems millions of Americans are starting to pay attention to the presidential race, especially on the still unsettled Democratic side.
Thankfully hosting what will likely be the last scheduled debate of the 2007-08 presidential primary season between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, MSNBC captured a major ratings victory today. It was the Democrats' 20th such forum.
The 96-minute decorous debate, anchored by Brian Williams and Tim Russert, drew 7.8 million viewers, the biggest audience the cable news network has ever had in its 11-year history and twice the size of the channel's previous record. (But that Tuesday night audience figure did include those watching on nine local Ohio stations that simulcast the debate.)
Until now, MSNBC's largest viewership was on March 19, 2003, at the beginning of the Iraq war, when 3.7 million people tuned in.
The Democratic face-off in Cleveland was the third highest-rated debate of the season, and made MSNBC the second-most watched network between 9 and 10:30 p.m. ET in all of television on Tuesday. Only Fox did better, airing “American Idol” and “Back to You” during the debate's first hour.
MSNBC even drew more viewers than its sister broadcast network. NBC attracted an average of 6.6 million during that time period with the second half of “The Biggest Loser” and the first half of its new show “Quarterlife.”
-- Matea Gold
OK, Disciples of Paul, here's the chance you've been waiting for to get Mike Huckabee, the only remaining contender between your guy, Rep. Ron Paul,  and the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, that nobody senator from Arizona, John McCain.
Do you know what Huckabee wrote on Tuesday? You won't believe it. Seriously.
Because he needs the publicity and doesn't have the money to buy much advertising to convince the rapidly growing number of Republicans who see the former Arkansas governor as a lingering nuisance who can't take a hint that his presidential hopes are over, smoked, done, dashed, cooked, fried, kaput, finished, completed and hopeless, Huckabee has challenged McCain to a debate. Hey, it only cost a stamp.
Huckabee's letter says: "I believe a Lincoln-Douglas debate so that voters can better understand our views on critical issues such as health care, education, energy independence, terrorism and national security is just what we need."
Of course, the Lincoln-Douglas debates occurred in....
Read more Look out, Huck, Ron Paul's people are gonna be furious »
One of the things that is driving Hillary Clinton and her husband and their latest presidential campaign absolutely crazy is the favoritism of the media they see directed toward her opponent, Barack Obama.
This was captured last weekend in the opening episode of "Saturday Night Live" on a mock panel with actor reporters openly admitting they were "in the tank" for Obama, pressing Clinton with difficult questions while asking Obama if he was comfortable, with the followup question, was he sure he was comfortable.
Clinton couldn't hold it in any longer early in Tuesday night's debate in Cleveland. "Well," she said when asked the first two questions first, "could I just point....
Read more Hillary Clinton blows name of next Russian president »
Speaking of debates:
Powered by a mounting national interest in the presidential races, CNN scored a rare ratings win over top-ranked Fox News in February among the key viewer democraphics of 25- to 54-year-old viewers during prime time for the first time in six years.
CNN drew an average of 614,000 viewers in that age group, a spike of 150% over February 2007, while Fox News earned 454,000 viewers, up 10%, according to Nielsen Media Research. MSNBC placed third with 326,000 viewers, an increase of 71%.
Fox News, however, still won a larger overall audience this month, with 1.87 million viewers in prime time, making it the third-most watched among all basic cable networks. CNN had 1.66 million and MSNBC drew 771,000.
The big audience gains for CNN were largely due to primary night specials and the three widely-watched debates the network hosted this month, including last week’s Democratic forum in Texas, which garnered more than 7.5 million viewers.
-- Matea Gold
So just in case after 422 debates you remain unsure exactly who's gonna be ready on Day One of a Hillary Clinton administration or precisely when Barack Obama first spoke out against the Iraq war that hadn't happened yet, they had another Democratic debate last night on CNN.
We overlook sometimes, while most of us are not watching these verbal jousting matches, that these peaceful, usually civil encounters are somewhat unusual in the larger world where would-be voters can get beaten up or lose their jobs or worse for asking uncomfortable questions of people in power.
Maybe Americans should get their fingers stained purple too when they vote as a visual reminder of the peaceful process most of us so routinely take for granted. Or don't even bother joining.
Anyway, as strange as it seems from watching American television, other countries have politics too. To help track that, as only some of you know, there's an entire squadron of blogs on this website from Kareem's own blog to the new L.A. Now on news around Southern California to La Plaza about Latin America. A potential lifesaver is our sister page, the Travel & Deal blog, which just posted a new State Department warning about travel to Serbia through March 6. You were probably going there in the morning.
It's rarely wise, even at discount prices (which the blog also tracks), to plan vacation getaways in countries protesting another's newly declared independence. Such observances usually involve storming the U.S. Embassy. Trust the Travel blog to protect you.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Words are important tools for communicating, not least when a nation is choosing a new national leader. From time to time the Ticket will publish an entire exchange or text so that readers can see the complete context.
In this case the simmering controversy leading up to tomorrow's crucial votes concerns a statement made by Barack Obama during an interview with the editorial board of the Reno Gazette-Journal in mid-January. The newspaper released a video of the meeting, and within hours Bill and Hillary Clinton were attacking Obama in their campaign events for some of his words. They're still going at it.
Read the entire text of the Obama statement, then read how the Clintons described it, and let us know in the Comments section whether you think theirs was a fair and accurate description or whether Obama was being unfaithful to his Democratic Party. This is a revealing example of modern political dialogue during the pressure cooker of American campaigns.
Candidate Obama was asked by the Reno journalists how his being the nominee would help members of Congress, senators and others down the party ballot.
Barack Obama:
"I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that, you know, Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. They felt like, you know, with all the excesses of the '60s and the '70s and government ...
Read more In his own words: Barack Obama on Ronald Reagan »
Over the weekend there was an as yet little-noticed incident in Bridgeton, Mo., just outside St. Louis. Sen. Hillary Clinton addressed a town hall meeting there and was taking questions from the audience.
One elderly woman rose and was asking the Democratic candidate about a rumored economic union among the United States, Canada and Mexico that is widely discussed, feared and abhorred among conspiracy fanciers. The woman said the president planned to implement the secret agreement in 2010.
Then the woman called the president "Bush the bastard."
The Democratic crowd immediately roared its approval.
Sen. Clinton nodded her head slightly and smiled.
Then, she proceeded to ...
Read more Questioner calls Bush 'the bastard,' Hillary Clinton smiles »
Well, The Times' Ben Welsh has done it again. For the third time this week, he's created a word cloud examining the words used over time in public, this time by Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama in Thursday night's Democratic presidential debate in Hollywood.
Ticket readers will recall this website published Welsh's creative word clouds twice before this week, once on the Republicans' debate and once examining the word patterns in all of President Bush's State of the Union Addresses.
Just put your cursor on the slider here and move it to the left, going back in time through 18 Democratic debates to last April 26 in South Carolina. Watch how the choice of words changes; the bigger the letters the more often they were used in that debate.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Both major political parties seek any opportunity for publicity during campaigns, even if it means playing off their opponent's events, always with something critical.
So after Thursday night's Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, co-sponsored by The Times, CNN and Politico.com in Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, the Republican National Committee issued its own set of mock Academy Awards. Included among them:
Actor in a leading role: Barack Obama, for his performance as Clinton's "friend" after snubbing her three days earlier.
Actress in a leading role: Hillary Clinton for her performance reaching out her hand "in friendship and unity" for three days.
Writing (Adaptation of a screenplay): Hillary Clinton for rewriting her record.
Director: John Edwards for dictating the first 15 minutes.
Cinematography: CNN for capturing Hollywood's love of the Democratic candidates.
-- Andrew Malcolm
These comments are in chronological order from the top, reading down.
Share your thoughts with Andrew Malcolm and Don Frederick on tonight's debate. Jump to the comment form.
Well, Don, here we go. The last big rhetorical confrontation between the last two Democratic candidates standing before Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, when all those delegates are picked across the country in nearly two dozen states. Scroll to the bottom for updates.
It'll be interesting to see how confrontational Hillary Clinton is, after all the criticism for her husband's scorched-earth campaigning across South Carolina last week, and how confrontational Barack Obama is, after all the hubbub over his perceived snub of Clinton on the Senate floor before President Bush's State of the Union Monday night.
She has said she reached out her hand and it's still reaching out. She also just happens to bring it up at every opportunity.
Think we can guarantee the debate will start with a handshake?
Obama, it seems to me, has shown a growing maturity and comfort with the debate format. At first, even when he criticized her, he spoke to the moderator and camera. Now, he regularly turns toward her to address his criticism, small but important gesture for people passing video judgment on who might be their commander in chief.
Clinton has always shown a clear command of the wonky issue stuff. But -- yes, it is an unfair double standard -- when she got in her zinger last time about Obama's friendship with Rezko "the slum landlord," some thought she came across as unduly harsh, perhaps catty. (Obama, of course, opened that can of worms by taking a shot at her service on Wal-Mart's board of directors.)
Hard balance for a female to show the strength while remaining feminine. I'll bet she's worked at it since.
--Andrew Malcolm
*
No initial handshake as Obama and Clinton walked onto the stage -- so if it occurred, if was out of camera range. And, for the most part, the pair did not exchange pleasantries as they posed for photographs, though Obama did whisper something into Clinton's ear.
-- Don Frederick
*
Perhaps wanting to nix lingering attention to the "snub," Obama makes a point of saying in his opening statement (a wrinkle not included in Wednesday night's Republican debate, which featured four candidates) that he was friendly with Clinton before the campaign, and would be her friend after it, regardless of how it turns out.
-- Don Frederick
*
Asked, in the debate's first question, to spell out the differences between her and Obama, Clinton predictably mentions that her healthcare policy starts out making universal coverage the goal. Then, she revisits a distinction that surfaced last summer, but had faded from view of late -- Obama's statement that he, as president, would readily meet directly with the leaders of rogue states.
Clinton criticized that remark at the time. And tonight, she said she would pursue a foreign policy that is "realistic and optimistic, but we start with realism." That means, she elaborates, that she would be less willing than Obama to sit down with rogue-state leaders.
-- Don Frederick
*
No disrespect to the Republicans who still have four candidates running, at least for another week. But this debate with only two really allows time for deeper answers and fewer simplified stump answers. Get the feeling I'm learning more about each of them. Instead of the stupid 30-second answers or raising hands when each party had 8 or 9.
Remember the historic Lincoln-Douglas debates for the Senate seat from Illinois in the 1850s? Abe and Stephen got together for a three-hour discussion, just the two of them. Back and forth, making points, arguing, answering back. Maybe they had bathroom breaks, but no commercial breaks. And no moderators like Anderson Cooper apportioning debate time unfairly, as he did so obviously last night to Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul. Three hours they went at it.
And they did seven of them around the state. Not a bad model.
--Andrew Malcolm
*
At the debate's break, the heated exchanges between Obama and Clinton during their get-together last week in South Carolina (when John Edwards was still part of the mix) have been lacking.
There was a minor spat over the touchy issue of driver licenses for illegal immigrants, but it was tame compared to the brickbats the pair were tossing at each other in the Palmetto State.
The bottom line on the immigration topic was that both would seek the type of comprehensive change that Congress has been unable to agree upon.
-- Don Frederick
*
It was about an hour into the debate when a question was asked directly about Ted Kennedy's much-publicized endorsement at Obama. But by that point, Obama already had worked in two references to the Democratic icon -- once during the discussion of health care, again during the discussion of immigration.
The use of Kennedy's name during the health care segment was effective -- Obama said that in backing him, Kennedy believed his prescription for achieving universal coverage, although not as aggressive as Clinton's would work. Still, Obama must guard against using Kennedy as cover too often.
-- Don Frederick
*
Barring a sudden shift in the debate's final minutes, it may be remembered as the night Clinton and Obama targeted Republicans -- more than each other.
Obama got off a good line about Mitt Romney, when discussing expertise in dealing with the economy. Romney, of course, has stressed his skills in that area. But Obama cracked that Romney "hasn't gotten a very good return on his investment" in his presidential campaign.
Obama also took a swipe at John McCain's remark that America might have a military presence in Iraq for 100 years.
Clinton got the biggest response of the night when she reprised a line she's used before about the prospective Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton White House tenures. It took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush, she said -- clearly knowing it was a surefire line -- and it might take a Clinton to clean up after the second.
A bit odd she said "might." A show of modesty, perhaps.
-- Don Frederick
*
Who knew that CNN's Wolf Blitzer would present Clinton's with perhaps her trickiest moment?
Blitzer cut to the chase after Clinton, for the umpteenth time, explained why she voted for the measure authorizing military force in Iraq and why she wasn't inclined to apologize for that vote. So, Blitzer interjected, you were "naive" in trusting Bush?
Clinton, obviously, disagreed with that characterization and it earned Blitzer some boos from the crowd. But it was worth a try.
If the start of the debate -- when healthcare was dwelled on -- played to Clinton's strengths, the discussion on Iraq gave Obama a chance -- again for the umpteenth time -- to stress that he got it right (from the Democratic point of view) in opposing an invasion of Iraq from the start.
-- Don Frederick
*
Then came the inevitable question about an Obama-Clinton or Clinton-Obama partnership for the general election, what CNN's Blitzer called "a dream ticket."
For either to answer that would mean they'd contemplated defeat. So clearly neither would. Obama jumped in first, acknowledged that anyone would want Hillary on their ticket and said it would be "premature and presumptuous" to speculate on a vice president with so much of the nomination campaign yet to occur.
But then, surprisingly, and showing his maturity and new deftness in recent months as he matured in the debate process, which had been difficult for him at first, Obama took the question and twisted it into a mini-speech on the kind of people he would want in his administration "to restore hope" (there's that Obama word again) for millions of Americans at home caring for their children and struggling with their mortgages, etc. He got applause.
In the past, as when he, Clinton and John Edwards were once asked their greatest weakness, he answered the question directly: he keeps a rather messy office. The others took it into areas like feeling too passionate about changing America. For several days Obama himself told that story himself on the trail as an example of a lesson.
Clinton tonight said she agreed with everything Barack had said and did a little riff of her own on how united Democrats would be when the primary season is over and they face the Republicans.
--Andrew Malcolm
*
Wolf asked a question on many people's minds tonight, a question that Clinton has been asked before and was prepared for. If she can't control her husband on the hustings of South Carolina, how could she control him in the White House? (No, not that kind of control.)
Clinton let out that increasingly famous laugh. Then proceeded to not answer the question. She said, "Both Barack and I have very passionate spouses who promote and defend us at every opportunity." She said how much she appreciated that and that when she was in the White House she would seek advice from a broad range of advisors but would be the final decision-maker.
Of course, none of that answer acknowledged that Obama's spouse is not a former president with the public podium that brings and that, so far, Michelle Obama has not injected Bill Clinton's lily-white race into the campaign, nor compared him in a demeaning way to past ultimately unsuccessful candidates of his race like, oh, say, Harold Stassen.
--Andrew Malcolm
*
Well, they may not have started the evening off with a much-watched-for handshake, but they proceeded with decorum. And ended happily ever after.
Throughout the evening as Clinton answered or didn't answer her questions, Obama, who used to stand and stare straight ahead, would turn toward his opponent and li | |
