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You kind of remember the long Democratic primary campaign as, first of all, long. Even at times bitter.
Hillary Clinton, speaking today with the Democratic winner, Barack Obama, in New Hampshire, said, "It was spirited because we both care so much." Watching this video no one would doubt the caring, but it sure wasn't about each other.
"Spirited" would not quite describe some of the exchanges by Democratic candidates discussing Obama, which in the interests of the opposite of unity, the Republican National Committee has generously assembled and is suppressing widely around the country today as an antidote to the Democrats' "Kumbaya" spirit.
No doubt it's deeply appreciated.
--Andrew Malcolm
Among the concerns some of Hillary Clinton female backers have with Barack Obama is the perception that he can slide into misogynist comments at the blink of an eye. And as we mentioned in an earlier post today, he made an odd, unplanned comment about women and heels during his Unity moment of rapprochement with Clinton. (The Swamp looks at Obama and John McCain on women's rights.)
This is from the transcript of the appearance: "[B]ecause of the campaign that Hillary Clinton waged, my daughters and all of your daughters will forever know that there is no barrier to who they are and what they can be in the United States of America. They can take for granted that women can do anything that the boys can do (cheers begin) -- and do it better, and do it in heels. I still (Obama laughs) -- I still don't know how she does it in heels."
Clinton laughed with him, but for a guy with some pretty good political instincts -- or who has at least hired people with good political instincts -- it was an odd verbal cul de sac to turn into. Remember, Obama caught some serious flak a few weeks back by dismissing a Michigan television reporter with a "sweetie." And he was criticized during a debate performance for another off-the-cuff comment about Clinton being "likable enough." Now he falls into the faux-joke of expressing amazement that a woman can outperform a man despite wearing heels.
That's not likely to go very far in mending fences with women already suspicious of him.
UPDATE: Tommy Vietor, Obama spokesman, says via e-mail that although Obama didn't cite Ann Richards, that was the genesis of his comment: "Sen. Obama was referencing Ann Richards' famous quote: 'Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did. She just did it backwards and in high heels.' Certainly Gov. Richards didn't mean [to] make that comment, as you described, as a 'faux-joke of expressing amazement that a woman can outperform a man despite wearing heels,' and it's disappointing that you'd draw that cynical conclusion."
Fair enough. But Vietor -- like many posters below -- missed the point of the blog item. For a candidate with past troubles with off-the-cuff comments on gender, it struck us as an odd comment. Some took offense; many did not (read the comments for a rather scathing discussion). Remember, this is a political blog, where we write about the political implications of campaign events and appearances.
-- Scott Martelle
Well, they did it, though it would have been quite the surprise if they hadn't after all the build up. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton shared the stage in Unity, New Hampshire, a few minutes ago and sought to put their often contentious pasts behind them and focus their supporters on the general election. (See video below.)
Given the goal of the day -- unity -- it wasn't a time to break out new policy, and Obama didn't. They essentially made nice, smiled a lot, sang each other's praises and then tried to rally the troops (The Swamp has a take on this, too).
And the coziness of the day began before they even left Washington, reports our colleague Noam Levey, who traveled with them. Obama and Clinton shared a half-embrace on the tarmac at Washingto n Reagan National airport then boarded the plane that Clinton used in her campaign. They settled in next to each other in the second row on the left side of the plane, Obama taking the window.
The chumminess continued once they arrived at Unity, with Clinton telling the crowd of more than 4,000 people, "Unity is not only a beautiful place, as we can see it's a wonderful feeling isn't it?" Obama joined the audience in applauding the sentiment, "And I know what we start here in this field in Unity will end in the steps of the Capitol when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as our next president."
Later, Clinton addressed the sometimes edgy tone of the campaign, saying "It was spirited because we both care so much." But we are one party, we are one America,” she said. We "are not going to rest until we take back out country and put it on the path to peace, prosperity and progress."
Then it was Obama's turn (his prepared comments are after the jump). He sang Clinton's praises as a rival, then made a direct play for unity citing her and Bill Clinton's lengthy presence in national politics. "We need them," Obama said.
"We need them badly... That's how we're going to bring about unity in the Democrat Party and how we're going to bring about unity in America."
After making some odd comments about Clinton campaigning in heels -- that won't do much to dispel anger among some of Clinton's female supporters -- Obama talked about the historic nature of both their campaigns. "Hillary and I may have started with separate goals in this campaign, but we have made history together.
"Together, we inspired tens of millions of Americans to participate, some to cast ballot for the very first time, others who voted for the first time in a very long time. And together, in this campaign, in 2008, we shattered barriers that have stood firm since the founding of this nation."
(UPDATE: Susan Pinkus of the L.A. Times Poll provides the following information:: In our latest Times/Bloomberg national poll, two-thirds of Clinton's supporters said they would vote for Obama, 11% said they would vote for John McCain, the Republican nominee, 12% said they were undecided and the rest went to third party candidates.)
--Scott Martelle and Michael Muskal
Photo credit: Mario Tama / Getty Images
Read more Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton tie the political knot in Unity »
Our cousins over at The Swamp have an item this morning spotlighting just how nagging a problem Barack Obama faces i n trying to woo some disappointed Hillary Clinton supporters in facing off against John McCain. It seems a couple of notable New Hampshire Democrats -- James McConaha, a former Clinton administration farm official in New Hampshire, and his Democratic activist wife, Valery Mitchell -- have no intention of hopping aboard the Unity bus.
Picking up a story in the Nashua Telegraph, the couple has agreed to lead Democrats for John McCain. And that's not the only anti-Obama group out there composed of Clinton supporters. In fact, though polls show most of her backers moving to Obama, there is a large and vociferous crowd out there that refuses to go along.
Whether this is enough of a counter tide to have an effect in November is the big question, of course. And it will matter most in the battleground states -- a few thousand Clinton supporters voting for McCain here in California, for instance, isn't likely to turn the state red. But it could be an issue in states where the red-blue divide is narrower.
Regardless, campaigns are an amalgamation of a lot of moving parts, and it can't be a good distraction for the Obamans to have to go out and try to run down strays from the Democratic herd.
-- Scott Martelle
Deciding to hold the public premiere of the revamped Barack Obama/Hillary Clinton road show in a New Hampshire town named Unity -- following Thursday night's private showing of the new act in Washington -- was a cute touch.
It also was a nice nod to Clinton by Obama to have the pair pledge their newfound fealty to each other in the state where she scored perhaps her most stirring primary win.
But symbolism and sentimentality aside, today's event is an early gambit in what should be a protracted and intense effort by the Obama camp to keep New Hampshire in the Democratic column this November.
The state's four electoral votes were among the 251 John Kerry won in 2004. Of all those he carried, New Hampshire may prove the most challenging for Obama to hold onto. John McCain long has treated the state like a second home, and in the eyes of many of its voters he enjoys folk-hero status.
But if Obama can win it and all the other Kerry states, his path to the 270 electoral votes needed to move into the White House can forego the two locales that broke Democratic hearts in the last two elections -- Florida and Ohio.
For instance, if he keeps Kerry's 251 electoral votes in the bank, victories for him in Colorado, New Mexico and Iowa -- states President Bush carried in '04 but where Obama currently looks strong -- gives him 272 electoral votes. But if he fails to pick up any other Bush state and loses little ol' New Hampshire, McCain occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Clearly, it will be more than a feel-good moment Obama will have on his mind in Unity today.
The improbable spotlight cast upon the town caused New Hampshire newspapers to relate various facts about it. These include:
** With a population of 1,715, it has no traffic lights, post office or hotel.
** First known as Buckingham and incorporated in 1753, it earned its present name 11 years later when a land dispute was settled.
** High-speed Internet availability is nowhere to be found there.
-- Don Frederick
That Friday get-together in previously obscure Unity, N.H., featuring Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton may well be oozing with goodwill.
First came word earlier today that Bill Clinton, the former president who stumped incessantly for his wife and seemed to take none-too-kindly to her defeat at Obama's hands, soon will be doing his part on behalf of the presumptive Democratic White House nominee.
Tonight came word that Obama would be doing his part to help the Clintons deal with a pressing concern: retire her multimillion-dollar campaign debt.
Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune's Swamp blog, in a posting headlined, "Obama: Clearing Clinton's credit cards?", has more of the details.
-- Don Frederick
Some staff member was truly inspired to come up with this scheduling idea (and should get a raise as a result).
It was announced today that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would travel to Unity, N.H., on Friday for their first joint public appearance since she exited the presidential race and endorsed him.
The town, tucked in the state's western corner, not only has the perfect name for the message the Obama campaign wants to impress upon disgruntled Clinton supporters across the nation, but it also precisely split its support in New Hampshire's Democratic presidential primary: He got 107 votes, she got 107 votes.
And then there's this demographic tidbit from the 2000 Census, which put the town's population at 1,530 people. Among all ages, for every 100 females there were 101.8 males. But for every 100 females age 18 and older, there were 97.7 males.
So on the gender front, pretty much a draw. The Swamp's Mike Dorning has his take on the Unity unity meeting here.
--Don Frederick
Much attention, understandably, is being paid to the notes Barack Obama sounds in his first general election television ad, which starts running Friday and can be viewed here.
Its emphasis on family values, self reliance and patriotism would have made Ronald Reagan's media shop proud. And in case anyone misses the point, the spot's title -- "Country I Love" -- says it all.
What really grabs us, however, is where the ad will appear (and, in one case, where it won't).
For the most part, the 18-state list is predictable. It includes the battlegrounds, large and small, that political analysts expect to watch through election day: Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa, New Hampshire and New Mexico among them.
But the list also includes a handful of reliably Republican places where Obama aides have been saying they believe he can compete, based on strength he showed among certain voting blocs during the primary season.
The states in this category are Georgia, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina and Virginia.
And then there are two states -- Alaska and North Dakota -- where the airing of the Obama ad demonstrates that:
A) His campaign knows something about these GOP redoubts that the rest of us doesn't;
B) When you're riding herd over an organization that raises massive amounts of cash seemingly without breaking a sweat -- and just today announced it was breaking free of the restraints imposed by the campaign finance system, as our friends at The Swamp write about here -- you can afford to take a flier on a couple of longshots, especially when the media markets are inexpensive;
C) It's always fun, when the November election still seems a long way off, to play in a few of your rival's backyards, if for no other reason than to cause some headaches on the other side.
Probably some combination of A, B and C explains the decision to advertise in Alaska (which President Bush carried with 61% of the vote in 2004) and North Dakota (which Bush won with 63% of the vote four years ago).
Looking at all seven states where the Obama ad buy raises eyebrows, here are some of the daunting historical facts ...
Read more Barack Obama ad targets include some shockers »
Mike Huckabee presumably remains a running mate contender for John McCain's presidential ticket, but he apparently has achieved what some thought was an ulterior goal of his own White House bid: a regular spot on national television.
The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz reported today that Huckabee has inked a one-year deal to provide political commentary on Fox News. That network, of course, is the logical venue for the former Arkansas governor, who rode his strongly conservative convictions on social issues -- and his ability to glibly communicate those views -- to a first-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.
As we mentioned, some saw this coming a long time ago.
In late November, veteran Arkansas political journalist John Brummett ended a column on the politician he had followed for years this way: "From time to time I've written an unoriginal but incisive line, which is that Huckabee is really running for his own show on Fox or MSNBC. I'm sticking with that.
"But I'll admit there are moments lately when I wonder if he'll have to go through the motions of being the Republican presidential or vice presidential nominee first."
Brummett's piece obviously was prescient, but he may have gotten the sequence wrong -- as well as underestimated Huckabee's ultimate ambition.
Take note of the former candidate's schedule of late. Monday found him in Bedford, N.H., speaking to the state's Federation of Republican Women's Lilac Luncheon. Such a lovely sounding affair would be high on anyone's list to attend, but especially so ...
Read more Mike Huckabee to have his own soapbox on Fox News »
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 »
As participants in today's Democratic rules committee meeting blew through a normal lunch hour -- and avoided venturing outside into a nasty thunderstorm that swept through Washington -- it became evident that the difficulties posed by the unsanctioned Florida and Michigan primaries were not equal.
A consensus seemed likely on how to apportion delegates from Florida, based on a proposal offered by the Barack Obama campaign. But how to deal with Michigan -- where only Hillary Clinton, among the major  Democratic presidential contenders, was even on the ballot -- emerged as a much stickier proposition.
Several top Michigan Democrats, including Sen. Carl Levin (at left), repeatedly referred to the contest in their state as a "flawed primary" in comments to the committee.
But Levin, passionately, also sought to return the debate to first principles -- whether Iowa and New Hampshire should continue to enjoy special status in picking presidential nominees.
Levin noted that for him, not only was that the root of Michigan's decision to conduct its primary on Jan. 15, earlier than national party rules allowed, but it remained the most flawed aspect of the nomination process.
His voice rising as he made this point, Levin told his party colleagues: "No state should have the right to go first" every campaign. "No state."
A few moments later, he decried what he termed the "God-given right to go first" that Iowa and New Hampshire insist upon every four years.
Regardless of how the immediate dispute plays out, Levin can be counted on to keep pushing -- perhaps at this year's convention, certainly beyond -- for a dramatic reshaping of the primary calendar. And that will remain worth watching.
-- Don Frederick
Photo: Associated Press
On the same morning Hillary Clinton's campaign e-mailed around to the press corps a link to a column that argues she may be leading in the total popular vote, Barack Obama scored four more superdelegates -- two from California (currently the land of fire and rain), one of them yet another Clinton defector.
The vote-count argument goes down the well-traveled trail of who do you count, and where, pointing out that if all the ballots cast in all the primaries -- including Michigan and Florida -- are counted, then she ekes out 71,000-vote lead with Puerto Rico, Montana and South Dakota still to vote. The general sense is Clinton will carry Puerto Rico, with Montana and South Dakota harder to read.
But the only way Clinton gets the votes-cast lead is to include those in Michigan and Florida (as well as estimates from the caucus states). Of course, the count that matters under the Democratic Party rules is the delegates. And Obama inched ever closer today with two California SuperDs -- Reps. Jim Costa of Fresno and Dennis Cardoza of Atwater -- and two former John Edwards superdelegates from New Hampshire.
Cardoza had been in the Clinton camp, and his flip seems to have more to do with wanting to jump on a stronger horse (or leave a sinking ship) than based on policy and vision. "While I continue to greatly respect and admire Sen. Clinton and feel she has made history with her campaign, I believe that Sen. Obama will inevitably be our party’s nominee for President," Cardoza in a statement released by the campaign.
He adds that he's doing it in the name of unity: "I am deeply concerned about the contentious primary campaign and controversy surrounding the seating of delegates from Florida and Michigan -– two states Democrats need to win in November... I believe we need to avoid this potentially divisive situation by uniting behind one nominee and bringing the party together immediately. Therefore, I have made the decision to support Senator Obama at the Democratic Convention in my role as a super delegate.”
-- Scott Martelle
Yes, there are still states -- and a territory -- to vote, Democratic delegates to select, superdelegates to decide and conventions to be held, but it's hard not to peek ahead to the fall matchup. You can make your own presumptions about whether the Dems will go with Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, but for the sake of argument, we'll presume it's Obama.
And polls, fickle though they may be, show that the general election could be just as tight as the Democratic primaries in crucial swing states where Obama's race and perceived class work against him (witness Kentucky). The tallies maintained at Real Clear Politics give a broader sense of the challenge for Obama and for John McCain.
You can go over there and play, but the overview is the latest state poll aggregates give the current advantage (some of these are within the margin of error) to McCain in Ohio, Florida and Missouri and the advantage to Obama in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin (though McCain led in the most recent poll) and Iowa with Michigan essentially a dead heat.
Now take those poll numbers over to an interactive electoral college map and the advantage is: Nobody. Under that scenario, with Michigan a virtual tie and polls too erratic in New Mexico to count, Obama and McCain would be separated by four electoral votes and both would need Michigan to put them over the 270 threshold.
Let the fun begin. Oh, wait -- it already has.
-- Scott Martelle
Just look at his face!
Doesn't William Jefferson Clinton look absolutely delighted with his wife's Democratic presidential primary victory in Indiana?
Sure the Clinton campaign (Hillary's) had hoped to do much better in North Carolina. It is difficult to put a happy face on a 14-point thumping down there by Sen. Barack Obama. But at least she tried -- "Thank you, Indiana!" -- even though Hillary didn't know when she gave her victory speech how close her opponent would come by night's end (1%) to pulling out a win in the Hoosier State as well.
Bill Clinton has arguably been helpful to his wife's now 15-month White House effort. The crowds are supposed to love him. And many do. But he's often stepped on her message, creating unwanted news of his own to detract from hers. In South Carolina, his controversial racial comments may well have cost her badly in that state's primary, and they might have hurt her again Tuesday in next-door North Carolina, where 9 out of 10 blacks voted against the wife of the man so popular with African Americans that he was once called the first black president. Instead, they voted for the man who may well be the first black president.
Professional political packagers often mute the sound on TV to just watch the real message seeping out from the moving pictures on screen. President Ronald Reagan's communications crew once sincerely thanked CBS correspondent Leslie Stahl for a devastatingly critical news report she'd done on his senior citizen programs because the pictures showed Reagan talking amiably with numerous fellow seniors.
Last night, as the Clinton campaign did after her disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, the senator's political packagers let her down by allowing her husband (and daughter) onstage with her.
To be sure, by this point in virtually any presidential campaign, it is difficult for all but the most intimate staff to tell a candidate what he/she should do, so sold on themselves have the candidates become by hundreds of adoring crowds and the automatic subservience of virtually everyone around them. It is particularly hard to say "No!" to an ex-president and an ex-first lady who both think she should be president.
But Bill's glum puss, standing there right behind her, competing for the eyes of every television viewer everywhere, throughout the candidate's remarks visibly contradicted virtually every hopeful, positive word she said. As a veteran and successful campaigner for himself, he could know better.
It was the same after her Iowa defeat. (See photo below) There she was onstage before an immense banner -- "READY for Change!" -- and an enthusiastic crowd of fans who, however, went largely unseen on TV in the darkness in front of the stage.
And as millions of Americans at home watched the one-time frontrunner valiantly argue her case, what did everyone actually see? About two dozen glum faces of disappointed campaign workers surrounding her, no doubt invited there to share the spotlight and offer moral support.
But they looked more like an oversized grieving family at a memorial service (in fact, look how many are wearing black), including a whole pack of faces familiar from the 1990s -- Bill and Chelsea and, directly by Clinton's right elbow, Madeline Albright!
This is READY for change? Living reminders of the turbulent Clinton past. While running against the fresh face and rhetoric of the triumphant Obama?
By the next week in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton or her communications advisors had learned their lesson. Click on Read More below to see that photo.
Read more Hillary and Bill Clinton in defeat and victory: When pictures tell the story »
Most Democrats remain squarely focused on the matters at hand: Who will win their presidential nomination and when will that be determined?
A cadre of party leaders, however, are looking down the road, mulling another conundrum: How can a repeat be avoided of the free-for-all atmosphere that surrounded the setting of this year's caucus and primary schedule?
Elaine Kamarck, a longtime party pro, is one of those whose attention already is turned toward 2012 (only partially, to be sure -- as a Democratic National Committee member, she's a superdelegate backing Hillary Clinton).
On Wednesday, Kamarck traveled to Washington from her current perch at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government and, at a gathering with a small group of journalists, discussed ways that a nomination calendar for the next presidential campaign might come together more easily.
Starting from the assumption that the immovable object and irresistible force in the process -- Iowa and New Hampshire -- will retain their starting-line roles, Kamarck said she would like to see definite dates decreed for these contests far earlier than they were in this cycle.
At the least, she said, there is strong motivation from many quarters to prevent the votes in Iowa and New Hampshire from again abutting so closely the holiday season (that, in and of itself, would be a gift for all concerned).
On the matter of "front-loading" -- the ever-growing and increasingly chaotic ...
Read more A few Democrats already have 2012 on their mind »
Have you ever been at, say, a football game and you notice the TV camera turn toward the crowd in Section 14?
And suddenly what seemed like a fairly normal group of people -- except for the two fat guys with no shirts -- turns completely bonkers: waving, displaying ESPN signs, pointing to their sweatshirts, holding up one finger (no, the forefinger) and yelling things that n o one will hear because there's no microphone within 50 yards?
That kind of disease must be spreading these days to those people who are handed a microphone. There's something about holding one of those electronic voice-amplifiers in your hand and looking out at a political crowd that turns on the stupid lobe in many a frontal cortex.
We've had so many examples this election season of folks whose egos seem to get amplified instead of their IQs. And they come out with amazing words that the immediate crowd might cheer. But pretty soon, thanks to the Internet and blogs like this, their words get read or heard by others.
And they find themselves apologizing in very embarrassing circumstances.
The latest is Geoff Davis, a Kentucky representative few beyond Paducah ever heard of until today, when his Saturday night....
Read more Boy, why all the speaking gaffes by Geoff Davis and others now? »
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 »
Well, Ticket readers gave each other an earful -- or eyeful -- in the last 24 hours over Oprah Winfrey, her endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, her perceived declining popularity, religious views and what many called the increasing irrelevance of her widely-viewed daily TV show.
"Oprah has been sliding not only because of her suport of Obama but her show has became a religion," Keith wrote. "She has let everyone know how new  age she is and that turns a lot of Christians off. She is not as entertaining."
"I think she felt compelled to come out and support someone just so she could get her name out in the media for more than what the latest book club joke was," Bruzilla added. "She's been on her way out for several years now."
Wednesday morning, The Ticket published a detailed item, since read by hundreds of thousands, that told of a study compiling Winfrey's declining popularity after she announced her backing of Obama last year, her first entry into politics after more than two decades of national TV popularity that created a personal fortune of about $2.5 billion.
The conclusion was that Winfrey, who's not exactly in danger of unemployment, may be paying a higher price for her political involvement than the benefit she provided Obama by drawing large rally crowds for him in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
"I never watch daytime TV," Sam admitted, "but if the women in my family are any measure, this drop in popularity is correct. They are a mix politically, mostly moderate but they were all big Oprah fans. They felt she was above the politics of the day.
"Now they all, every one of them, feel she sold out and they no longer watch her, at least so they say. I know my wife now watches 'Ellen' when she is home at that time. I also know that my sister-in-law posted her anger on the Oprah website. Don't make light of this, I think it is true."
Many, even most critics, defended her right to ....
Read more Oprah's ex-fans trash her support for Obama over a woman »
(UPDATE: This Ticket item has aroused so much interest, traffic and hundreds of comments that a new one has been published this morning. After you've read this item and are ready to go to the new one, just click here to read the reactions of hundreds of Oprah fans and former fans. Thanks for reading.)
Most of the attention on the O2 effect -- Obama and Oprah -- has been focused on how much the daytime TV cult leader helped her home state senator by endorsing him and appearing at all those rallies in Iowa and South Carolina with Barack and Michelle.
The 54-year-old Chicago TV hostess certainly helped raise a hefty chunk of change by loaning out her estate for that Obama fundraiser last summer.
Oprah Winfrey has long enjoyed an immense popularity tied to her long-running daytime TV show, which started in 1986, and helped give her favorable ratings around 78% by 1996. So well known is she that one name will suffice, as in our headline.
In one 1999 survey of the most admired and respected 20th-century women, Oprah (26%) came in only second to Mother Teresa (33%), who didn't have her own TV show. And in 2003 a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll found that 60% thought Oprah was a more powerful woman than someone named Hillary Clinton, a former first lady and senator, who drew only 28%.
Fourteen months ago, a Gallup/USA Today poll found 74% of Americans had a favorable view of the TV personality.
Then on May 1 last year, Oprah announced during....
Read more A surprise: Oprah pays a real cost for supporting Barack Obama »
Wait one dollar-grubbing minute!
How can the troublesome twin Democratic candidates raise $60 million between them  last month and John McCain scrapes together barely $15 million, according to campaign sources. And this is supposed to be so great? A successful month for this guy?
To be sure, Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are still donating their millions to TV stations all over Pennsylvania and North Carolina contradicting each other in 30 seconds or less, which is worth something to the Arizonan with the GOP nod sewn up. McCain is preparing to take maybe $85 million in public funds for the general election, which is a week shorter for the late-meeting Republicans.
But that means this interim run-up to the general election is a week longer. And $15 lousy million? For the Republican who's supposed to represent all the fat cats and big businesses? McCain folks tell fellow blogger Marc Ambinder that March was their best month and quarter ever. And tonight McCain expects to take in $400,000 from a banquet in Washington.
Whoop-dee-do!
Dr. Nobody, Rep. Ron Paul, the libertarian-like Texan who's a year older than McCain, raked in $6 million one slow Sunday last December from his motivated followers when everyone else was ...
Read more John McCain's got some serious money troubles »
With the sad milestone on 4,000 U.S.-troop deaths having been reached in Iraq, it calls to mind a poll released earlier this month showing that many Americans had lost track of the fatality figure there. In contrast, public awareness of the political activities of a certain TV talk show host was amazingly high.
The survey, conducted for the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press from Feb. 28 through March 2, found that at that point, the largest slice of Americans -- 35% -- estimated the death toll at around 3,000.
Among the 1,003 adults polled, 28% were on the mark, saying the total was around 4,000. Just last August, when the death toll was about 3,500, the poll has found 54% of those interviewed had named that number -- far more than any other figure.
Also in the new survey, 84% correctly identified Oprah Winfrey as the celebrity who had campaigned for Barack Obama.
That was far less than the 56% who were able to accurately identify Arizona as the state John McCain -- the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who isn't exactly a newcomer to the national scene -- represents in the Senate.
Fully 19% tabbed New Hampshire as the state, a testimony to the importance voters there have played in McCain's political career.
The poll -- amounting to a pop quiz on an array of subjects -- had an error margin of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points. To check it out in detail, go here.
-- Don Frederick
For sports junkies, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar saved the best for last in his L.A. Times blog posting earlier today featuring an e-mail exchange between the basketball great and a longtime hoop-aholic, Barack Obama.
The Democratic presidential contender answered a few serious questions that Abdul-Jabbar pitched him, which you can read here. But the end of the post contained this revelation: If Obama ends up moving into the White House early next year, some sort of b-ball setup will be added to the grounds (actually, given D.C.'s often wretched weather, we'd recommend an indoor court).
Obama's passion for the sport evolved into a bit of a superstition back in January.
He relaxed the day of the Iowa caucuses by playing some hoops and, of course, ended the night by celebrating his win in that contest. But he skipped a shoot-around on the days of the New Hampshire primary and the Nevada caucuses, both of which he lost to Hillary Clinton. So when the South Carolina primary -- an obvious must-win for him -- rolled around on Jan. 26, he made a point of playing (and later basked in an overwhelming victory in the Palmetto State).
-- Don Frederick
The debate has been joined -- and will continue -- over the relative merits of the primary and caucus scorecards for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
The Clinton camp has been the most aggressive -- in part because she trails Obama in the delegate count -- in arguing that her wins have been more meaningful.
Her aides note that she's won the lion's share of the most populous states that have held nominating contests, including the two essential building blocks for any Democratic presidential candidate -- California and New York -- and one of the most crucial swing states -- Ohio. They also have been dismissive of many of Obama's triumphs in small states that are a virtual lock to vote Republican in November, such as Idaho, Utah and North Dakota.
Obama and his staffers, understandably, scoff at such reasoning. First off, they note, a win is a win is a win; a convention delegate from Boise counts at the party's national convention just as much as one from Los Angeles. Secondly, they point with pride to his successes in states Democrats have struggled to hold in recent elections -- such as Wisconsin -- and in two states the party would love snatch from the GOP column -- Missouri and Virginia.
Catching up on our reading over the weekend, we came across a recent column that had this to say about fixating over the relative merits of carrying this state or that one at this stage of the campaign: "Winning states in primaries and caucuses has little to do with winning them in general elections."
That pithy reminder came from ...
Read more How much do primary and caucus wins portend for November? »
The resignation Wednesday of Geraldine Ferraro as a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton got us thinking. There have been an awful lot of staff/advisor resignations from presidential campaigns this cycle, people done in by everything from unleashed tongues (Ferraro) to sex scandals (see below).
So, let's review, in alphabetical order, shall we? For the sake of fairness, we'll separate the ones who fell through impolitic talk -- the Ferraro group -- and those whose troubles involved lawyers. If we left some out, let us know in the comments section.
But remember, we're focusing on those who were forced out of presidential campaign roles, so people like Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana are not included because he was not forced from his role in the Rudy Giuliani campaign over revelations of old liaisons with prostitutes.
Without lawyers involved:
Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan, both bloggers, dropped off the John Edwards campaign more than a year ago after complaints surfaced about pre-campaign, anti-Catholic blog-posts.
Phil Martin, one of four co-chairs of Fred Thompson's campaign, stepped down in November after revelations of a criminal records. Martin had pleaded guilty in 1979 to selling 11 pounds of marijuana, and entered a "no contest" plea in 1983 to cocaine trafficking and conspiracy charges. Until he quit, Thompson was using Martin's private plane to get to campaign events.
Samantha Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author for her book on genocide, "A Problem From Hell," quit as a foreign policy advisor to Barack Obama last week after ...
Read more How the mighty -- and not so mighty -- have fallen »
Here in the wonderful world of blogging, time is truly relative -- as in the past fades fast, the future is amorphous and the present is all-consuming. But for the rest of you, well, we know you're studiously staring at the computer screen trying to show the boss in the corner office how hard at work you are.
So waste some time with this: Slate's candidate tracker, which graphically shows where the candidates have been busy with appearances. It took forever to load on our workhorse of a laptop but once it does fire up it's fun to see how far this campaign has come. Especially when you look at the lists of the fallen on the right hand side, running alphabetically for the Democrats from Joe Biden to Bill Richardson, and for the Republicans from Sam Brownback to Fred Thompson. And note that the tracker still shows Ron Paul slogging away, even if he seems to have sent the horse back to the barn.
Ah, the memories.
-- Scott Martelle
Let's give credit where credit is due -- in this case, to the pollsters (many of them, at least).
It's been a rough season for those who get paid to gauge public opinion, epitomized by the raft of miscalls in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary.
Then there was the embarrassing Reuters/CSpan/Zogby poll on the eve of Super Tuesday -- the survey reported Barack Obama up by 13 percentage points in California; he ended up losing the day's major prize to Hillary Clinton by about 10 points.
Since then, the polls accurately foretold the string of victories Obama put together, but usually underestimated the margin by which he would triumph.
Perhaps the pollsters have finally readjusted their interview models to take into account the surges in turnout that have marked most of the Democratic contests. Regardless, on Tuesday, in both Ohio and Texas, the closing polls (for the most part) ...
Read more Pollsters share the winner's circle with Hillary Clinton »
Will this be another day that adds to the Clinton legend, another chapter in a book teeming with examples that their political apparatus -- whether headed by him or her -- often may be down, but it is never out?
It was just two months ago that Hillary Clinton, seemingly on the ropes following her third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, added to the family legend by confounding the pollsters and narrowly winning the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary.
Going into today's spotlighted contests, a late surge has put the polls on her side -- substantially in Ohio, by a small margin in Texas. At this point last week, Barack Obama seemed to have the momentum, especially in Texas, and story after story delineated discontent with the Clinton camp.
If the polls prove right, it will underscore why it's not a smart bet to write off the Clintons. As do these reminders about her husband:
Read more The Clinton comeback chronicles »
Most Americans do not listen to Rush Limbaugh on the radio.
So, if they ever think about the talkative fellow, they know for sure that he's a chunky right-wing blowhard with a cigar who goes on and on about conservative causes and a while back had some sort of problem about prescription pills that allowed them to crack a smug smile over hypocrisy.
Recently, they learned that Rush has some kind of problem with Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, that offers hope for rampant divisiveness among conservatives that will allow Barack or Hillary or Ralphie (but likely not Ron) to romp into the White House next January.
However, there are nearly 14 million Americans who do ...
Read more Rush Limbaugh commands you to think his way »
A new L.A. Times/Bloomberg survey of Democratic voters nationwide underscores Barack Obama's spectacular rise from spirited underdog to commanding figure in the party's presidential race.
We won't reveal the precise numbers here; for that, check for the detailed story on our home page about 4 p.m. PST and in Wednesday's print editions. Suffice to say that among a national sample of those who have voted or plan to cast ballots in Democratic nominating contests, Obama has erased the once-daunting lead held by Hillary Clinton and now appears to enjoy a slight advantage over her.
The results roughly parallel the figures of other national polls conducted in February, most of which have found Obama ahead or locked in a virtual tie with Clinton.
The race could still turn again, with both candidates keying on the March 4 primaries in Texas and Ohio (and squaring off tonight on MSNBC in another debate, starting at 6 p.m. PST). But here's a reminder of the ground Obama has made up:
* Just four months ago, a Times/Bloomberg poll found Obama barely holding onto second place against John Edwards, with both far behind Clinton. Her lead in that mid-October nationwide survey: 31 percentage points.
* In mid-January, after the pair had traded wins in the race's initial skirmishes in Iowa and New Hampshire, Clinton clung to a nine-point lead in a Times/Bloomberg national poll.
The full results...
Read more L.A. Times/Bloomberg Poll posts this evening »
Sen. John McCain, now the Republicans' presumptive nominee, kept his campaign afloat as recently as last month by loaning himself another $950,000. That's nearly $4 million he's had to borrow since November at a bank-profitable interest rate.
But then came the Arizonan's election success in New Hampshire and he quickly began raising major sums. Everybody likes a winner, or at least enough folks with money who want on the bandwagon.
Now McCain is likely to be the GOP's nominee. But way back in, oh, it must have been early January of 2008, McCain started the new year way, way back in the Republican pack -- and his fundraising reflected that.
He raised less than $1 million in the first week of January. But how sweet....
Read more John McCain, from bank loans to golden boy in a single month »
Pollster Dick Bennett thinks he's caught sight of a significant wave that will crest in today's Wisconsin primary. Either that, or he's going to catch a significant amount of grief on Wednesday.
We contacted Bennett, president of the New Hampshire-based American Research Group, because his organization's most recent surveys had left our head spinning.
A poll conducted Friday and Saturday of likely voters in Wisconsin's Democratic presidential contest had caused a buzz because, in contrast to other recent surveys that had shown Barack Obama slightly ahead, it gave Hillary Clinton a 6-percentage-point lead (49%-43%).
Bennett's questioners were back at it on Sunday and Monday, and the results were dramatically different: Obama led by 10 points (52%-42%).
The margin of error ...
Read more One pollster's take on Wisconsin »
Some signs this morning that black support for Sen. Hillary Clinton is fracturing. The New York Times reports that in an interview Rep. John Lewis, a very influential black Georgia Democrat who endorsed Clinton last fall, has decided to switch to Sen. Barack Obama.
In a similar report early Friday the Associated Press was more cautious, quoting Lewis as praising Obama's campaign and inspiration but stopping short of unendorsing Clinton for the Illinois senator. Either way, the apparent erosion presages serious trouble for the New York senator's camp.
Speaking of endorsements, Sen. Barack Obama seems to have gotten one from a possibly unwelcome place. Daniel Ortega, the Soviet-backed Nicaraguan leader whose Sandinista forces battled U.S.-supported Contras there in the 1980s, says he sees "revolutionary" change coming to the United States in the persona of Obama.
Speaking of Obama's candidacy, Ortega, who was ousted in a 1990 election and then returned to the presidency in an election last year, says Obama forces "are laying the foundations for a revolutionary change."
Ortega, who's apparently seen Obama's large campaign rallies, said he has ''faith in God and in the North American people, and above all in the youth, that the moment of great change in the U.S. will come and it will act differently, with justice and equality toward all nations.''
And despite polls showing most U.S. Latino voters support Sen. Hillary Clinton, Ortega called Obama a spokesman for the millions of impoverished Mexicans and Central Americans who've migrated to the United States in search of a future. These statements will be especially helpful for the Illinois senator in places like Arizona.
Meanwhile in Houston, where the Texas primary is set for March 4, Obama spokesmen still struggle to convince viewers that a scene captured by a TV news crew occurred in an unofficial Obama volunteer campaign office. Last week the camera filming joyous post-Super Tuesday Obama volunteers inadvertently showed a prominent wall decoration: the Cuban flag overlaid with a picture of deceased communist guerrilla leader Che Guevara.
Protests erupted immediately. In an on-camera interview with Channel 26 this week, Maria Isabel, who runs the office, was to explain the communist icon's presence, when she developed sudden second thoughts and ran off-camera.
 TODAY'S POLITICAL PANDER PRIZE goes to former Gov. Mike Huckabee, who's still campaigning for the Republican nomination as Sen. John McCain continues to collect GOP endorsements. (Mitt Romney did his party duty Thursday and quietly got in line for 2012.)
Huckabee was in Wausau, Wis., where several people cheer for the Green Bay Packers. These fans apparently include a reporter for WJFW, obviously a real news professional who publicly promised Huckabee his vote if he'd don a Packers tie.
Huckabee, known more as a baseball fan (St. Louis Cardinals), said to do that would be the ultimate in pandering. And then he did it. Hey, you get votes any way you can when you're that far behind.
Then Huckabee, along with The Times' James Rainey, headed for....
Read more Ticket Takings: No cute dogs today but lotsa politics »
New polls out today show some mixed news for the Democratic contenders, with Barack Obama holding a slight lead (but within the margin of error) in Wisconsin, which votes Tuesday, and Hillary Clinton with a solid lead in Ohio, which votes March 4.
But delving inside the numbers shows the race remains unsettled, with one in four of those polled in Wisconsin saying they could still change their minds (anyone remember New Hampshire?).
As we've pointed out before, polls are good at telling us what has happened, but not so good at telling us what will happen. So what has happened is that Obama and Clinton have pretty much split the Wisconsin electorate, and either of them could win it at this point, while she has kept her lead among key constituencies in Ohio.
But what will happen is a matter of conjecture. So let's conject. If Obama wins Wisconsin convincingly, you have to suspect the race in Ohio will tighten. Wisconsin would be the ninth straight win for Obama, and he would have shut out Clinton since Super Tuesday (assuming he also wins Hawaii next Tuesday, which would give him 10 victories in a row).
But if Clinton wins Wisconsin, where Democrats proudly embrace the state's progressive tradition, then she would head into Ohio and Texas having thrown a lasso around the horse on which some think Obama is running away.
Winning Ohio and Texas could give Clinton the lead again in the delegate count, and then this all begins to look like the final quarter of a football game.
-- Scott Martelle
We've been here before. The pending question is: Will we be fooled again?
The story line is in place for today's "Potomac primaries" in Maryland, Virginia and D.C., a narrative determined by other recent contests, the body language from each of the Democratic presidential campaigns and -- most influential -- the polls. Based on all of this, it should be another shining Barack Obama moment.
But in his mind, and those of his aides, there must linger a memory of New Hampshire.
Boosted by his win in the season's inaugural contest, the Iowa caucuses, the question on the day of the Granite State primary was by how much -- not if -- he would win that vote. Every final poll showed him ahead. Hillary Clinton did not even have a victory speech ready. But that night, of course, she got to make one.
The lay of the electoral land wasn't quite as clearcut ...
Read more Will the polls, and the vibe, finally reflect reality? »
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