Ticket Replay: Inside Obama's victory rally, the historical setting

During the next week or so The Ticket is republishing some of our favorite items from the 2007-08 political season. This one originally appeared in this space and in The Times' print edition on Nov. 11, 2008:

When those 200,000 or however-many Barack Obamians gathered in Chicago’s Grant Park late Tuesday and early Wednesday to celebrate the election of America’s first African American president, they were literally and figuratively standing on historic ground.

Democrats celebrated their black candidate’s victory in a 319-acre park named for a Republican president, Ulysses S. Grant, an Illinois native who was the final Union Army general of the many named by President Lincoln, another Illinois Republican, to crush the Confederacy and end slavery.

Grant Park was also the site of the 1968 self-immolation of Obama’s Democratic Party in violent antiwar (and witnesses testified) police riots that besmirched the city’s name for a generation.

It also shook Cook County’s long-running Democratic machine, then headed by Mayor Richard J. Daley and now not coincidentally headed by his son, Mayor Richard M. Daley, brother of William Daley, now not coincidentally a member of an Obama transition team.

Today’s Mayor Daley is political patron of both Obama and his newly-announced White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, a city....

Now, feds probe Gov. Richardson of Obama Cabinet for 'pay-to-play'

It seems that Illinois' legally challenged Gov. Rod Blagojevich is not the only close Barack Obama associate and Democratic governor being investigated by the feds for possibly selling government business in return for campaign contributions.

New Mexico's Gov. Bill Richardson, who is the newly named Secretary of Commerce in Obama's about-to-be Cabinet, is also being investigated by a federal grand jury in his home state for possibly steering state bond business from the New Mexico Financial Authority toward David Rubin, a significant campaign contributor, according to an NBC News report, among others.

NBC's Lisa Myers reports that two former state officials say they've recently been questioned by a federal grand jury specifically about allegations that Richardson or aides pushed state business worth nearly $1.5 million in fees toward CDR Financial Products in 2004. The company is headquartered in Beverly Hills.

This was about the same time as CDR's founder, Rubin, donated $100,000 to two of Richardson's political action committees; mainly it appears to cover expenses of the governor and his staff at the Democratic Party's National Convention in Boston that summer.

Rubin also donated another $29,000 to Richardson's unsuccessful presidential campaign this year and last.

The probe is part of a broad national federal exploration of "pay-to-play," in which government officials reap financial or other benefits in return for state business.

Richardson has ignored reporters' questions on the federal investigation, while a spokesman says he's confident the relationship was entirely appropriate and the governor expects state employees to cooperate fully with federal investigators. A CDR spokesman also said the transactions were appropriate.

An Obama transition official has refused to comment on whether the president-elect knew of the investigation before he appointed Richardson to his new Cabinet position.

Obama has called Richardson "my great friend" and said the governor would be a key member of his administration's economic team. Richardson, the first Latino in Obama's Cabinet, described himself the same way.

On Tuesday, the Obama transition team issued a five-page report of its own involvement with Blagojevich, who's charged in a federal criminal complaint with demanding money for state aid, business and his appointment of Obama's Senate replacement.

The Obama team report completely absolved the Obama team of any wrongdoing, as the Ticket reported here. But Obama was already on vacation when the report was issued and has said he won't be talking further about the matter. The president-elect's main Blagojevich contact, new White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel also happened to be unreachable on a vacation in Africa.

Here's the full video report below.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Associated Press

Ticket Replay: Montana Gov. Schweitzer declined Obama Cabinet offer that never came

During the next two weeks or so, The Ticket is republishing some of our favorite items from the 4,000 we've written since June, 2007. This one originally appeared in this space on Dec. 8, 2008:

Like most everybody else, you've probably not been wondering which Cabinet post Brian Schweitzer is gonna get in the evolving Barack Obama administration.

Back in September, Schweitzer, who is the Democratic governor of Montana, announced he wouldn't accept a Cabinet post in a Democratic administration in Washington.

That seemed slightly strange.

Because no one thought he had been asked to join a new Democratic president, the election to pick the president not being scheduled until Nov. 4.

But, hey, that's Brian, he of the rotund body and bolo tie, who got the crowd so riled up with his partisan quips at the Democratic National Convention last August in Denver.

Played so well back home that Big Sky Country went for Republican Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, 50-47.

Now that we're a month past that Nov. 4 election and the Democrat who won the White House still hasn't called on Schweitzer to join his administration, the Billings Gazette reports Schweitzer has reaffirmed he won't accept the Cabinet post he still hasn't been offered.

"I like being outside too much to be Interior secretary," Schweitzer said. Schweitzer, by the way, has also not been offered the Cabinet post at Defense, State, the Justice and Commerce Departments and Homeland Security. And White House chief of staff seems out of the question as well.

An unscientific, bipartisan sampling of Montanans reached by telephone confirms that they too have no intention of accepting any Obama Cabinet post that isn't offered.

But unlike the governor, they declined to make announcements to that effect. We'll keep you posted though, if B.S. or B.O. changes their minds.

(UPDATE: So you can fully enjoy the holiday free of uncertainty, the call to Gov. Schweitzer never did come from the president-elect. So the governor is still not in the new Cabinet and won't have to decline it anymore.)

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credit: Office of the Governor

Ticket archives: A look at Barack Obama in blue jeans 18 years ago

A lot of people seem to think this Barack Obama fellow was first noticed when he spoke eloquently to the 2004 Democratic National Convention as a state senator wannabeing a U.S. senator.

But our LATimes.com blogging buddy Larry Harnisch has found fascinating proof that Obama was worthy of some note many years ago. Larry writes the Daily Mirror blog, a regular treasure trove of historical insights.

Before there was Michelle Obama, before there was Jeremiah Wright and David Axelrod, before there was William Ayers and Tony Rezko, there was Tammerlin Drummond.

She was a Times writer struck by the first black editor of the Harvard Law Review. So she spent some time with him and wrote a long, revealing article about this 28-year-old pioneer that was published more than 18 years ago on March 19, 1990.

Larry has resurrected the piece from Times archives for its relevance today. It includes:

-- Stories Obama told Drummond about his father and grandfather, the first family member to leave the Kenyan tribal village and don Western clothing.

-- About the racial passbook his grandfather had to carry to be a cook for English families.

-- How the young Obama witnessed abject poverty living in Indonesia and how his mother made him take English lessons so he wouldn't forget it.

-- How after four years of community organizing in Chicago he went to Harvard Law School to learn how to use the political system to affect social change.

She also wrote about the concerns of some liberal students and other blacks at Harvard because Obama easily worked with more conservative students and included them instead of packing the law review with like-minded peers.

"Down the road," the article on Obama notes, "he plans to run for public office."

Guess so.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo editor: Steve Liss / Getty Images

Amazing campaign video: 21 months, 1,000 pictures, 4 minutes

The entire 21-month 2007-'08 presidential campaign in four minutes. John McCain. Barack Obama. Hillary Clinton. Sarah Palin. Joe Who's-it. Mitt Romney. Hillary. Rudy Giuliani. Bill. Fred Thompson. Hillary. John Edwards. Hillary. Mike Huckabee.

Buckle up. And click once. (And did we mention there's lotsa pix of Hillary in here?)

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Hat tip to the Associated Press!

Sarah Palin must go, conservative columnist Kathleen Parker opines

This just in: Sarah Palin has NOT given up her spot of the Republican presidential ticket.

Nor do we expect her to.

But we broach the prospect simply because a nationally syndicated conservative columnist, Kathleen Parker, has called for Palin to do exactly that.

Parker's piece showed up at midday Friday on the National Review website (you don't get much more conservative than that) and since then has generated lots of buzz (and been picked up, not surprisingly, by lots of liberal blogs).

The columnist, who resides in South Carolina and posts regularly at Townhall.com (another conservative outlet), was high on Palin earlier this month in the immediate aftermath of her selection as John McCain's running mate.

In a commentary following Palin's boffo speech at the Republican National Convention, Parker wrote that the Alaska governor had shown "strength, conviction, determination, confidence, a willingness to rumble and fearlessness."

Now, in the wake of Palin's less-than-well-received Q & A with Katie Couric of CBS, Parker writes:

No one hates saying that more than I do. Like so many women, I’ve been pulling for Palin, wishing her the best, hoping she will perform brilliantly. I’ve also noticed that I watch her interviews with the held breath of an anxious parent, my finger poised over the mute button in case it gets too painful. Unfortunately, it often does. My cringe reflex is exhausted. Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there.

Parker, who if nothing else has increased her visibility, concludes her column with her call for Palin to "bow out [of the national race] for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn."

Those on the left with a conspiratorial bent may wonder if the latest developments in the Palin saga are part of a hidden effort to create an environment in which she can't help but exceed expectations in her Thursday debate with Joe Biden.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Associated Press

Sarah Palin may not love the media, but we sure like her ....

GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is getting better television news coverage -- in quantity and tone -- than either John McCain or Barack Obama, according to a new study out of George Mason University.

The research may be surprising, considering Palin has had a strained relationship with the press since she took the stage last month at the Republican National Convention.

The Alaska governor drew some of her loudest cheers with this line: "Here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion -- I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country."

Since then, Palin has rarely tangled with the press. She has done a handful of interviews with hand-picked reporters, her staff prompted an uproar when they tried to bar all reporters from her meetings with world leaders, and she failed to hold a single press conference until today, when she answered four questions from reporters traveling with her.

Since Palin was picked as McCain's running mate on Aug. 29, the nightly news on ABC, CBS and NBC has run 77 stories about her, which nearly double the number of Obama pieces and six more than McCain. Three-quarters of the stories were positive, compared to 56% for Obama and 40% for McCain.

“She’s new, she’s a fresh face, she had a momentous event, she re-energized the race, she brings a historic dimension,”  said study author S. Robert Lichter, a communications professor at George Mason University and president of the Center for Media and Public Affairs. “She’s the McCain campaign’s Obama.”

And Joe Biden -- well, mentioning his name here is probably the first time you've heard it in days. The Democratic vice presidential candidate notched a paltry five stories, too few to statistically analyze the tone of his coverage.

The research of evening newscasts between Aug. 23 and Sept. 12 was conducted by Lichter, who has worked as a paid consultant for the Fox News Channel. If his name rings bells, it could be because his earlier research found the three networks were tougher on Obama than McCain during the first six weeks of the general election.

-- Seema Mehta

Photo credit: Ron Edmonds / Associated Press

Whatever his reasons, Barack Obama sure didn't choose Joe Biden for money

Joe Biden is no Sarah Palin when it comes to fundraising appeal.

The latest campaign finance reports show Barack Obama received only a minor fundraising bump after he named Biden as his running mate, although he raked in huge sums as the Democratic Convention closed and John McCain named Palin as his running mate.

Obama outspent his Republican rival in August, shelling out $53.5 million on television and mass mailings, as well as polling, food and lodging. McCain spent $40 million but also benefited from $20 million spent by the Republican National Committee, Federal Election Commission reports showed today.

Obama's $66-million haul in August was almost $20 million more than McCain's. One of the most striking differences was the sums they raised after they announced their running mates.

McCain received $8.8 million in the two days after he announced that Alaska Gov. Palin would be his running mate. Obama received what for him is a modest sum -- $1.7 million -- on the day he announced his choice of Biden and $694,000 the following day.

Obama’s campaign aides said he received additional....

Geez, did we all watch those conventions! McCain, Palin, Obama and the Delaware guy

The folks over at Nielsen's who watch people watching television have gone through their numbers again for the last week of August and first week of September.

And for an allegedly politically inattentive people, we sure watched a ton of convention coverage of the current presidential election.

In fact, most of the households in America watched, according to Nielsen.

"Nearly two thirds of all U.S. households (64.5% or 73.2 million homes) tuned in to at least one of the 2008 political conventions,'' Nielsen reports today.

"This is about 120.1 million people. Viewership levels for the two conventions were essentially tied, with about half of all households watching each one.''

Nielsen also uncovered some revealing details about the convention audiences:

• Fifteen percent of all households tuned to just the Republican National Convention, and 15.7% tuned to just the Democratic National Convention. Another 33.9% of all households tuned to both conventions.
• Homes that watched both conventions were more likely to be headed by someone 65 or older. They had also completed the most formal education: nearly one-third (32.3%) graduated from college. Those watching only one convention were fairly comparable on education.
• Homes that only tuned to the GOP convention were more likely to have higher incomes ($100K+), to have a larger household size (4+), to be white, to own a DVR, and to have a head of household with higher education (4+ years of college) and aged 35-54.
• Homes that only tuned in to the Democratic convention were more likely to have a lower income (<20K), to have a smaller household size (2), to be African American, and to have a head of household who is younger (<35) and who has less education (1-3 years of college).
• About one-fifth (21.2%) of the Democratic convention-only homes were headed by an African American. Of the Republican convention-only homes, 83.5% were headed by someone who is white.
• Of African American homes, 35.7% tuned in to both conventions, more than each of the other ethnic groups.

The ubiquitous Mark Silva has some more details over at the Swamp.

— Andrew Malcolm

Photo credit: Associated Press

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Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton's special limited-time offer: DVDs of her DNC speech

John McCain stopped by the Intercontinental Hotel in Miami the other day and picked up $5 million. Barack Obama dropped in on his Beverly Hills friends and left with an estimated $9 million.

But Hillary Clinton? With President Bill Clinton's help, she is hawking DVDs of her speech at the Democratic convention last month.

In the letter, sent via blast e-mail earlier this week, the former President says he and Sen. Clinton are doing absolutely everything they can to help elect Barack Obama.

But there is this little matter of her campaign debt, which topped $10 million last month.

“Her historic speech inspired me and millions of others, and it was a great reminder of how important it is that we also continue to support Hillary's efforts to speak out on behalf of ordinary Americans,” the letter says.

For a $50 donation, you would receive a DVD with her “historic speech in Denver and the inspiring video that introduced her,” the former president writes of Hillary's speech at the Democratic National Convention.

But that's not all.

The package will include a message that “Hillary recorded just for you, where she shares some special moments from her week in Denver.”

But, wait, there's more: “We'll put my speech on there for you too,” the former President says.

But, wait, there's even more.

“For a limited-time only if you contribute $250 or more you will receive the special 'Signature' edition personally signed by Hillary,” the former president writes.

Now, if only she could sell 40,000 of those autographed DVDs, her debt could disappear.

-- Dan Morain

Photo: Justin Lane / EPA