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Here's a little chuckle for a Tuesday morning.
The funny folks over at Comedy Central have apparently become loyal Ticket readers too. Especially the ones on that website's wonderfully insightful Indecision 2008 News Desk -- "Something Approximating Election News with Something Approximating Honesty."
Last night the website's blogger took one of our recent items -- "Barack Obama may campaign at a NASCAR event" -- and had a little more fun with it. (See the headline on this morning's Ticket item.)
The Ticket had reported Thursday that Obama was considering attending a NASCAR event in coming months because, well, that's where white working-class votes are.
And the Democrat can use some. A whole bunch, in fact. We noted that Bill Clinton went to a NASCAR event in 1992 and got booed and boycotted, while George W. Bush received a friendlier reception in more recent years.
Comedy Central's CubbyChaser linked to our item about Obama's plans with the comment: "Why does this not surprise me in the least?"
And he provides a doctored photo of the Democratic nominee that should become a poster. We're not going to ruin his sight gag. You can click here to see it for yourself.
And be sure to note Obama's sponsor.
--Andrew Malcolm
We've known for a while that Lindsey Graham and John McCain are something of political soul mates, as well as Senate colleagues. But a one-liner from Graham a little while ago makes us wonder (not too seriously, or deeply) whether he harbors secret ambitions.
 Graham and Joe Lieberman are traveling with McCain on his two-country tour of Latin America, but this morning were shunted to the press boat (think of kids and the small table at Thanksgiving) for a tour by the entourage of the Port of Cartagena. McCain was in another vessel -- a faster, drug-interdiction speedboat called the Midnight Express (which for the moment could have been called the Straight Talk at Midnight Express).
The press boat chugged alongside McCain's boat for about 10 minutes as the presidential candidate and his wife, Cindy McCain, were briefed by port officials. Then both boats cruised out to open water, where they separated a bit. Graham, hopefully out of earshot of the Secret Service detail, pointed across the waves to McCain's craft and said, "Sink that boat!"
He then added: "I could get the nomination if you sink that boat."
A reporter asked if the comment was on the record, and Graham said no (sorry, senator, but nothing is off the record with pool reporters along). Graham also suggested the two boats play a little chicken.
Lieberman? Not so quippy -- he just occasionally waved at McCain during the 15 minutes at sea.
-- Scott Martelle
Photo credit: Associated Press
Well this was a little long in the coming but it finally happened -- Barack Obama and Bill Clinton shared a little quality phone time earlier today. Obama communications director Robert Gibbs said Obama made the call and the two men talked for about 20 minutes as Obama rode from Kansas City, Mo., to Independence.
Obama asked Clinton to campaign with him, and for him, and Clinton agreed, though spokesmen for the men didn't break out who spoke for how long during those 20 minutes. The Swamp has a bit of it here too.
Clinton's communications director, Matt McKenna, described the call as "a very good conversation" and said Clinton "renewed his offer to do whatever he can to ensure Sen. Obama is our next president. President Clinton continues to be impressed by Senator Obama and the campaign he has run, and looks forward to campaigning for and with him in the months to come."
Added Obama spokesman Bill Burton: "Senator Obama had a terrific conversation with President Clinton and is honored to have his support in this campaign. He has always believed that Bill Clinton is one of this nation's great leaders and most brilliant minds, and looks forward to seeing him on the campaign trail and receiving his counsel in the months to come."
So what's that you see in the rearview mirror? Looks like South Carolina.
-- Scott Martelle
A year in which Barack Obama heads the Democratic national ticket is not a year in which the party's decades-old lock on the black vote will show any signs of loosening.
Indeed, a recent Associated Press story noted that because of the precedent-shattering nature of Obama's candidacy, even some well-known African American voices from the right were thinking twice about what they would do with their secret ballot.
Commentator Armstrong Williams said of Obama: "I don't necessarily like his policies; I don't like much that he advocates, but for the first time in my life, history thrusts me to really seriously think about" voting for a Democrat for president. "I can honestly say I have no idea who I'm going to pull that lever for in November. And to me, that's incredible."
Also on the fence, according to the story, is J.C. Watts, the former House member from Oklahoma who for years -- in virtually every story that quoted him -- would at some point be identified as "the sole Republican member of Congress."
Against this backdrop, the surprise in November will be if Obama fails to better the high mark for black support that exit polls found was hit by two Democratic presidential candidates -- 90%, posted by Walter Mondale in 1984 and equaled by Al Gore in 2000 (John Kerry came close four years ago, winning 88%).
But also against this backdrop, it is worth noting a small milestone for a black GOP politician that occurred last week in South Carolina.
Tim Scott, a businessman who also chairs the Charleston County Council, won his party's nomination for a seat in the state's House of Representatives. He faces no Democratic opposition in the general election, setting the stage for him to become the first black Republican to serve in South Carolina's Legislature since Reconstruction ended in 1877.
In writing about Scott's achievement, the State newspaper in Columbia, S.C., reported that when Scott takes office, South Carolina will be "on par with Georgia" as the only Deep South state where the ranks of state legislators include black Republicans.
And for a take on Scott's win from a South Carolina-based blog that, according to its "about us" statement, was "conceptualized out of sheer boredom and an insatiable lust for attention," go here.
-- Don Frederick
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 »
Todd S. Purdum, former New York Times staffer and current Vanity Fair national editor, lets loose in the July issue of the magazine with a lengthy profile of Bill Clinton after leaving the White House. It's getting reduced to sex in some places -- friends worried that he was spending suspicion-raising time with attractive women on the road -- but there's no smoking gun (to stick with political metaphors), and focusing on speculation about a return to form for the former wanderer-in-chief does the article a disservice.
Purdum, who covered portions of the Clinton administration, offers up a deeply reported look at a primal force in politics facing his own dissipation. Scandal, big-bucks speaking fees, big-bucks pals like Ron Burkle with private planes, but also heart surgery and a clear physical deterioration. Bill Clinton is no longer the man he once was, though he is still a force -- Purdum describes Clinton as "the smiling, snowy-haired man who is the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral he attends."
Purdum, who is married to Clinton's former press secretary, Dee Dee Myers, writes: "To know Clinton is, sooner or later, to be exasperated by his indiscipline and disappointed by his shortcomings. But through it all, it has been easy enough to retain an enduring admiration — even affection — for a president whose sins against decorum and the dignity of his office seemed venial in contrast to the systemic indifference, incompetence, corruption, and constitutional predations of his successor’s administration. That is, easy enough until now.
"This winter, as Clinton moved with seeming abandon to stain his wife’s presidential campaign in the name of saving it, as disclosures about his dubious associates piled up, as his refusal to disclose the names of donors to his presidential library and foundation and his and his wife’s reluctance to release their income tax returns created crippling and completely avoidable distractions for Hillary Clinton’s own long-suffering ambition, I found myself asking again and again, What’s the matter with him?"
What's the matter, indeed.
-- Scott Martelle
For those of you keeping score, Barack Obama has now moved past Hillary Clinton in terms of announced support from elected superdelegates (governors, senators and representatives).
He picked up three more on Wednesday.
Obama still trails Clinton slightly in overall superdelegates, 257-234.
But in overall delegates he leads by 141, 1,650-1,509. This according to the authoritative NBC count.
Still, not enough for anyone's victory. Next stop: Pennsylvania come Tuesday.
--Andrew Malcolm
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 »
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? »
File this under "Better late than never." The AP reports that Hillary Clinton apologized Wednesday night for Bill Clinton's comments during the South Carolina Democratic primary showdown with Barack Obama.
At a forum sponsored by an association of African American community newspapers, Clinton was asked about her husband's comments after Obama walked away with the South Carolina win in January. At the time, Bill Clinton pointed out that Rev. Jesse Jackson had won South Carolina in 1984 and 1988 -- campaigns that went nowhere. The comments were perceived as dismissing Obama's win, and many African Americans took umbrage.
"I want to put that in context," Hillary Clinton said Wednesday night. "You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive." She went on to say that "we can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama." And: "Anyone who has followed my husband's public life or my public life know very well where we have stood and what we have stood for and who we have stood with."
Coming just hours after Geraldine Ferraro quit as a Clinton fundraiser over her own race-tinged remarks, you have to wonder how much of Clinton's apology was sincere and how much was an attempt to smooth over a rift with a key part of the Democratic base.
And as our colleague Peter Wallsten points out in today's Times, race has become a persistent issue in the Democratic campaign despite Clinton and Obama's stated desires that the nomination fight be over issues. "This is a virtual race war, politically," the Rev. Eugene Rivers of Boston's Azusa Christian Community church told Wallsten. And depending on how the nomination fight ends, many African American voters could stay home in the fall.
--Scott Martelle
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
The bitterness of ex-president Bill Clinton's scorched earth march to the sea across South Carolina lingers not just in the chilly relations between his wife, Hillary, and Sen. Barack Obama, and apparently in the votes of thousands of South Carolinians. There was considerable criticism of Bill Clinton for injecting race into the race, which Obama easily won 2 to 1.
But now some of Clinton's supporters are suggesting he was not seeking to marginalize Obama as an old-fashioned hopeless black candidate, but that it was actually reporters who injected race and the Rev. Jesse Jackson into Clinton's post-election analysis.
Thanks to our colleague Jake Tapper over at ABC News, we have the entire transcript of that controversial exchange between Clinton and reporters. As we occasionally choose to do here at the Ticket, we've laid out a longer conversation so readers can soak up the context and full impact of the politically spoken words. Now, you can make your own judgment as to who brought the Rev. Jackson into the conversation:
Bill Clinton: Wow. Hi, Everybody.
Reporter: How’s it going for you this morning, Mr. President?
BC: Oh, good. You know, I like election days and I think it’s interesting they vote on Saturday here. It makes it easier for working people to go. You know, there’s really not much you can do to change a lot of votes, but by stirring around, you may induce people who are for you to go ahead and vote when they might not have.
Reporter: You proud of what you’ve done here in South Carolina?
BC: Oh yeah, we’ve done our best, and we’ve had, I particularly have enjoyed, you know, my role here has been almost exclusively to go around and do town meetings and answer questions, that’s most of what I’ve done, and I’ve really enjoyed that. I think it’s been immensely impressive to me to see in the audiences whether they were predominantly African American, predominantly....
Read more In his own words: Bill Clinton on Barack Obama and Jesse Jackson »
The satirical newspaper The Onion recently headlined a timely political story: "Depressed candidate runs attack ad about himself." Well, that's not Sen. John McCain now, who arrives in Los Angeles today fresh from his primary victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.
McCain is here for tonight's Republican presidential debate at the Reagan Library co-sponsored by The Times and streamed-live on this website.
But not only are McCain's political fortunes rejuvenated after a summer when he seemed near political death and flew alone back in the economy section of commercial flights.
His fortune's fortunes are rejuvenated as well. Aides say the McCain campaign has collected millions in donations as his wins have accumulated. Everybody likes a winner. This is actually not unusual. One source from the Barack Obama campaign told The Times campaign finance expert Dan Morain that the Illinois senator raised $500,000 in the first hour after the South Carolina polls closed for the Democratic primary last Saturday when Obama won an overwhelming 2:1 victory over Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile, Mitt Romney continues to pour considerable amounts of his considerable fortune into his campaign. Even after losing Florida on Tuesday to McCain, Romney could joke to hundreds of St. Petersburg supporters, while The Times Seema Mehta looked on: "All you guys are family. Don't expect to be part of the inheritance," he continued to laughter. "I'm not sure there's going to be much left after this."
McCain raised $37 million during all of calendar 2007, placing him a distant third among Republican candidates behind Rudy Giuliani in second and Romney, the top GOP money-getter and self-donor.
And at the end of the year, according to papers he's just filed with the Federal Election Commission, McCain had a debt of $4.5 million. Because he is taking matching federal funds, but they had yet to be disbursed, McCain's camp had to take out a nearly $3 million loan at about 8.5% interest in order to stay afloat, according to Morain.
--Andrew Malcolm
Photo: Daniel Barry / Bloomberg News
John Edwards is apparently calling it quits. And it looks like Ralph Nader -- "Darth Nader" to Democrats who can't forget the 2000 showdown -- is thinking about joining the campaign circus. Again.
First, Edwards. If he does follow through with the reported planned announcement in New Orleans later today, the timing is curious. Edwards' 2008 campaign never really caught on, in large part because he couldn't get enough air to breath in a room in which Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama sucked up nearly all the oxygen. And he was further confounded by Obama's policies, which occupied much of the same populist ground that Edwards was standing on.
But why drop out now? Edwards' last loss was Saturday in South Carolina. His showing in Florida on Tuesday was irrelevant. And with Feb. 5 just around the corner, he might have been able to grab enough delegates to act as a drag on both of the other candidates.
Unless the one-time trial lawyer is planning to throw his lot in with Obama in an effort to stop Clinton's march to the nomination. Or, conversely -- and harder to imagine -- join up with Clinton to seal it for the New York senator.
As for Nader, the legendary consumer advocate ...
(Photo credit: Edward Gombert/EPA)
Read more Edwards and Nader: One out, one in? »
Now that the harsh rhetoric of the South Carolina Democratic primary is behind them and Bill Clinton has moved on to burn the political landscape somewhere else, and Barack Obama whupped Hillary Clinton more than two to one in the Palmetto State and then got the endorsement of JFK's brother and daughter and the brother's son, Patrick, the two remaining Democratic senators competing to live in the White House are still not pals.
Politics makes for strange, uh, bedfellows, but by the looks of things, don't expect a Democratic ticket pairing of these two anytime soon.
Body language or whatever, they clearly do not like each other. Some say the coolness began last winter when Obama surprised Clinton by changing the mind she thought he'd made up and deciding to run against her for their party's nomination. Until then, the nomination had seemed hers to inherit.
And nowhere was that personal chilliness more evident than at President Bush's State of the Union speech this evening, a political theater piece that ...
Read more Bush's speech brings Obama and Clinton together -- but apart »
Notice anything strange about this news release just issued by Hillary Clinton's campaign summarizing the most important political news that happened across the country on Saturday?
"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2008 Contact: Press Office
YESTERDAY IN THE STATES
ALABAMA: The Montgomery Advertiser endorsed Hillary, “based on her grasp of issues, her impressive work ethic and her personality.” Read more… U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones campaigned across Alabama for Hillary. She kicked off the day by joining local supporters at the opening of the campaign’s office in Birmingham. Watch. She then attended the Morehouse University vs. Tuskegee University basketball game in Tuskegee.
CALIFORNIA: Hillary supporters throughout the state hosted and participated in more than 250 “Bring Your Own Phone” (BYOP) parties with friends, family and neighbors across the Golden State. Supporters called undecided voters… U.S. Reps. Hilda Solis, Grace Napolitano and Lucille Roybal-Allard joined human rights leader Dolores Huerta, local elected officials and young Latino voters for the grand opening of the campaign’s East Los Angeles field office. Serving a predominantly Latino area, the new office will anchor the campaign’s East Los Angeles get out the vote (GOTV) effort, which includes bi-lingual phone banks and Latino and youth outreach.
COLORADO: The campaign’s Hispanic Leadership Council held a “Latinas for Hillary” event in Denver… Hillary supporters gathered to watch South Carolina returns.
CONNECTICUT: The Hartford Courant endorsed Hillary. “Mrs. Clinton's positions reflect the fiscal discipline her husband managed to effect in the 1990s.” Read more… State Comptroller Nancy Wyman endorsed Hillary. Read more… The campaign announced Hillary will visit Hartford on Monday.
DELAWARE: Clinton senior economic advisor Gary Gensler spoke on behalf of Hillary at a political forum in Newark.
ILLINOIS: Hillary supporters kicked off a two-day statewide phone bank blitz with events around the state.
MASSACHUSETTS: The Worcester Telegram & Gazette endorsed Hillary. “The next president will face considerable domestic challenges, in health care, the economy, [and] education…Overcoming the challenges will require steadfast leadership — with no time for on-the-job training.” Read more… Hillary supporters canvassed neighborhoods throughout Massachusetts… The campaign announced that Hillary will hold a “Solutions for the American Economy” town hall in Springfield on Monday.
MISSOURI: In Independence, President Bill Clinton was “frequently interrupted by applause” while talking about the economy, health care and Iraq. Read more.
NEW JERSEY: Staff and volunteers conducted visibility before gathering to watch the South Carolina primary returns in field offices throughout the state.
NEW MEXICO: Former New Mexico Governor Bruce King and his wife, Alice King, endorsed Hillary. John Wertheim, former chair of New Mexico Democratic Party, also joined the campaign. Read more… The campaign launched a new website to highlight Hillary’s efforts in the state. Visit.
NEW YORK: U.S. Rep. Steve Israel attended an “Ambassadors for Hillary” house party in Laurel Hollow and answered questions from Long Island women. “Ambassadors for Hillary” is a network of over 1,600 New York women who support Hillary and actively encourage their personal networks to support Hillary… The campaign also launched its effort in Dutchess County with a phone bank.
TENNESSEE: The Memphis Commercial Appeal endorsed Hillary. “Clinton has the experience needed to step into the Oval Office at this critical time.” Read more… Hillary spoke about the future and took questions from an “energized” crowd of thousands at a “Solutions for the American Economy” town hall at Tennessee State University. Read more. The campaign announced Hillary will attend worship services today.
UTAH: In Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune endorsed Hillary. “With this country bogged down in two wars, burdened by a crushing deficit and hurtling toward recession, experience and sheer toughness are essential in a presidential nominee… Hillary has an abundance of both.”
WASHINGTON: The campaign held caucus trainings in Sequim and Vancouver."
There doesn't seem to be any mention here of a place called South Carolina, where the entire Clinton family including an outspoken ex-president spent much of the last two weeks. So nothing must have happened in the Palmetto State on Saturday. Nothing to see here, folks. Please. Just keep moving along.
--Andrew Malcolm
(UPDATE: On Sunday the Associated Press, quoting "party officials," was the first to report that Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts would endorse Sen. Barack Obama at a news conference in Washington on Monday. As an influential party elder, Kennedy's endorsement has been eagerly-sought and long-awaited in Democratic circles, not least for its accompanying connections to his broad national political and fundraising network.
(And its loss is a blow to the Clinton campaign, although perhaps not a surprise after Caroline Kennedy's endorsement reported below.
(The Times' Maria LaGanga confirmed the impending Ted Kennedy endorsement, which will come on Monday in Washington during a joint appearance at American University with his niece, Caroline. According to Times sources, Sen. Kennedy will actively campaign for Obama around the country with special emphasis on labor and Latino groups, where Kennedy is strong after his ardent advocacy of immigration reform.
(The other two big Democratic endorsements much-sought in this campaign were Sen. John Kerry and former vice president Al Gore. Kerry has already also endorsed Obama. Gore has yet to take sides, although his relationship with Hillary Clinton during their White House years was often fraught with friction.
(Sen. Clinton was in Memphis at a black church service when her spokesman, Doug Hattaway, sought to downplay the Kennedy endorsement by issuing the following statement: "She has a great deal of respect for Sen. Kennedy and is very proud of the endorsements she's received from her Senate colleagues. At the end of the day, people will select a candidate based more on their merits than on their endorsements.'')
A very, very good night for Barack Obama just got better.
Just minutes before the Illinois senator officially claimed his victory in South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary to an adoring crowd, his campaign publicized what readers of the New York Times will learn in Sunday's edition -- Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the president whose aura Obama has sought to capture, wants him to win.
She begins her Op-Ed article thusly: "Over the years, I've been deeply moved by the people who've told me they wished they could feel inspired and....
Read more UPDATE: Now, Caroline AND Ted Kennedy endorse Barack Obama »
Size matters.
Not always, but in the matter of Barack Obama's much-bigger-than-expected triumph in South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary, it certainly does. Here are some of the questions raised by his 2-to-1 margin of victory over Hillary Clinton:
-- Will Bill Clinton rein himself in?
His campaigning in South Carolina appears to have helped turn a probable loss for his wife in South Carolina into a spanking. And a parting comment he made concerning Jesse Jackson may hurt her standing even more among black voters in future primaries.
The ex-president clearly is not going to vanish from the trail (especially when there's so much ground to cover leading up to Super Tuesday). And many of the states with Feb. 5 contests -- including most of the major ones -- are friendly turf for the Clintons. So we'll be watching for a change of tone from him in the next few days: An emphasis on reminding Democrats what they revered about him, rather than offering asides about Obama or venting various frustations.
-- Will Obama get a sustained boost from his South Carolina win?
If he does, he'll be the first -- in either party -- in this campaign. As we've noted before, so far the series of single-state faceoffs have had limited, if any, effect ...
Read more The morning after South Carolina »
This past week Sen. Hillary Clinton left South Carolina to campaign in Feb. 5 voting states. But she left behind her husband, Bill, as her surrogate campaigner and attacker of Sen. Barack Obama.
It's looking tonight, as Obama racks up a huge margin of victory in the Palmetto State, like that was a mistake. A large one.
The spectacle of a former president getting down and dirty in the current political trenches with numerous attacks on the freshman Illinois senator may have backfired big-time.
According to CNN exit polls, the ex-president's campaigning was an important factor in nearly 60% of Democrats' voting decisions. Of those, 47% went for Obama and only 38% for Clinton's wife. Fourteen percent went for John Edwards.
The polls also indicate that 20% of South Carolina Democratic voters made their decision in the last three days, when news coverage of B. Clinton's attacks on Obama were intense. Of those 20% late-deciders, fully 57% went for Obama while only 18% voted for the New York senator.
Additionally, the Obama campaign provided statistics showing that the two Greenville precincts that the ex-president visited today ended up voting 78% and 80% for Obama, while giving H. Clinton only 15% and 16% and Edwards 2% and 5%.
An Obama spokesman estimated based on early returns that his candidate would capture 25 South Carolina delegates tonight, Clinton 12 and Edwards 8. The Associated Press reported Clinton now has a running delegate total of 249, Obama 167 and Edwards 58.
Late tonight, a Clinton aide said that Bill Clinton would continue campaigning for his wife. Based on South Carolina's unfolding results, that may be good news for the Obama crowd.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Sen. Barack Obama’s protests notwithstanding, two related independent campaigns are jumping into the primary fray on his behalf, buying newspaper ads, seeking to register voters and airing television ads in California and elsewhere touting his candidacy.
Funded primarily by wealthy Californians, the pro-Obama PowerPAC and Vote Hope are paying for radio and newspaper ads, calling voters, and trying to organize volunteers who will help get out the vote for Obama on Feb. 5.
So far, according to The Times' Dan Morain, the ads tout Obama and make no mention of his foes.
Obama strongly protested the involvement of such groups when....
Read more Despite Obama protests, two groups aid his side »
There's still an awful lot of space between John Edwards and Barack Obama in the South Carolina polls ahead of Saturday's primary, but as the Zogby folks have found, Edwards is moving to within striking distance of Hillary Clinton for the No. 2 spot.
Caveat: Shifts demarked in a single poll often don't mean anything, and polls in general are NOT predictors. Being savvy political watchers, you knew that, of course.
But the Real Clear Politics aggregate tracker shows a similar shift amid some serious volatility in South Carolina. Most interesting is that two weeks ago Clinton and Obama were running neck-and-neck, even without the margin of error. Since then -- as the Clinton tag-team lined up against Obama -- the Illinois senator has gained support while the New York senator has lost support (Obama has seen some erosion lately, too).
At the same time, Edwards has been picking up traction. Again, there's a lot of ground between him and Obama. But not so much between him and Clinton. And if Edwards edges out Clinton again, you have to wonder what that will do to her support in the Feb. 5 states.
-- Scott Martelle
You know, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.
Hillary Clinton, making the rounds of network morning shows today, says her famous husband told her that "maybe he got a little bit carried away" in his blistering verbal attacks on Barack Obama. The former first lady hasn't exactly been a shrinking violet herself, and O bama has responded in kind.
Which set up this wonderful N.Y. Post cover from earlier in the week, with its echoes of both Hercules battling the Hydra and the late, lamented Weekly World News tabloid and its infatuation with the "bat child."
Who says politics is all serious policy wonk stuff?
-- Scott Martelle
In the minds of anyone involved in political campaigns, especially major presidential ones, the stops made by candidates are so many, day after day, and usually so hurried that they merge into a blur, even for the reporters traveling along around the state keeping notes like The Times' Maria LaGanga.
Wednesday, when Sen. Barack Obama visited the St. James United Methodist Church in Darlington, S.C., he spoke for only five minutes in front of an overflow congregation gathered for its weekly family spaghetti dinner. You'd never know from his calm remarks what's at stake in Saturday's Democratic South Carolina primary vote, which is virtually a must-win for the freshman Illinois senator.
It was a short version of his usual remarks plus a special addition: "Keep Michelle and Malia and Sasha and me in your prayers," the candidate requested. "This is....
Read more Barack Obama adds a little something to his spaghetti »
Art Linkletter knew the dangers of talking with children in public. But ex-President Bill Clinton didn't -- or forgot -- for a minute Wednesday during one of his campaign stops in Kingstree, S.C. And he paid the price.
B. Clinton is not running for office, of course. But he's been traipsing all over the state this week attacking Sen. Barack Obama and campaigning for his wife, Hillary. She's been campaigning for herself out west and in New Jersey in the Feb. 5 states and, perhaps not accidentally, not investing too much of herself in the Palmetto State, where she trails Obama in polls for Saturday's Democratic primary.
But she has, not accidentally, maintained a prominent presence in the media all across the state by having her daughter Chelsea and her husband visit community after community, with the ex-president launching steady attacks on Obama. So there he was, the former head of the free world, in front of another audience of 400...
Read more 5-year-olds ask ex-presidents the darndest things »
South Carolina has a history of rough politics.
Allright, they're downright mean and dirty. Sen. John McCain wasn't the first to get a bitter taste of that in 2000. And now, it seems, some anonymous sources are trying the same smear tactics on Sen. Barack Obama in advance of Saturday's state Democratic presidential primary.
There's a whispering campaign underway across the entire state, often using forwarded e-mails, suggesting that Obama is a closet Muslim schooled in anti-American lessons who refuses to take the Pledge of Allegiance.
To be honest though, Illinois politics is no kindergarten either. So Obama's campaign....
Read more Anti-Obama smear campaign gets rolling in South Carolina »
 During much of Monday's Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, John Edwards was kind of like the third wheel on the date from hell, as the feuding couple -- Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton -- went at each other much of the night, wagging fingers, interrupting each other and staging staredowns. Edwards tried to make the best of it.
But Tuesday night, Edwards had the guest chair all to himself on "Late Show with David Letterman." And the host wanted to know, "What was that ... melee like last night? ... You were right there."
Edwards responded, "What I was trying to do was represent the grown-up wing of the Democratic Party." Good line. Edwards came across as a pretty regular guy, which is a major goal for any politician on a late-night comedy show.
Then Letterman couldn't resist. "Could I just mess your hair up a little bit?" he asked.
"You want to?" said Edwards. "Go ahead."
Then, just as Letterman reached out to do it, like an impertinent trial lawyer, Edwards reached over and mussed up the host's hair too.
Vigilante justice in America during the hunt for votes.
-- Andrew Malcolm
Photo credit: J.P. Filo CBS/Associated Press
The largest and most influential newspaper in South Carolina, where the Civil War began, endorsed an African American, Barack Obama, for the state's Democratic primary late Tuesday.
The State newspaper in Columbia, which endorsed Sen. John McCain before he won the state's Republican primary Saturday, said Obama's campaign "is an argument for a more unifying style of leadership" and, as a son of Africa, he has "the best chance to repair the damage to America's global reputation."
Reviewing the field that Democratic voters will evaluate come Saturday, the State praises Rep. Dennis Kucinich's "bold plan on health care, but his platform is unlikely to endear him to many in South Carolina." The paper said former Sen. John Edwards "has morphed away from ...
Read more South Carolina's biggest paper backs Obama »
You know that Democratic presidential debate that was on cable TV last night from South Carolina and you heard later that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton seemed to get so angry with each other while you were watching something else because you figured you'd already heard them discuss their minor differences enough already?
Well, it turns out, according to CNN, that it was the most-watched primary debate in cable news history anyway among total viewers and key demographics. Take that, Fox News and MSNBC.
CNN says the two-hour confrontation, which also included John Edwards playing the role of a non-historic white Southern male candidate, attracted an average of 4.9 million total viewers and nearly two million adults 25-54.
Let's see, 4.9 million. That leaves something like....
Read more That debate was a biggie--and there's more to come »
It was going to be a key face-off under any circumstances, coming as it does five days before the heap of primaries on Feb. 5.
But now, the Jan. 31 Democratic presidential debate in Los Angeles looms as a crucial rematch, after the sharp-edged exchanges between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton at Monday's forum in South Carolina. And thanks to the munificence of the Clinton campaign, one lucky person (and a guest) can be part of the audience, seeing for themselves how much the two prime contenders for their party's nod have come to disdain one another.
Actually, munificence has nothing to do with it.
In the best tradition of find-any-way-to-raise a buck, the Clinton campaign is conducting a lottery. Those who contribute to her war chest before ...
Read more Hillary Clinton wants company at the L.A. debate »
Republican Fred Thompson dragged his feet getting into the presidential race, much to his detriment. He moved more expeditiously getting out of it, issuing a simple, three-sentence statement today announcing -- to no one's surprise -- that he was ending his candidacy.
Thompson bowed to what became inevitable after his third-place showing in Saturday's South Carolina primary. Less than an hour after the polls closed that night, when it was already evident he would be an also-ran, Thompson addressed his supporters in the state -- remarks that walked right up to a withdrawal but stopped just short of it. Since then, he has been absent from the campaign trail.
Some of his higher-profile backers had jumped ship before Thompson officially abandoned it. Earlier today, ex-New York Sen. Al D'Amato -- who like many Republican leaders had not so many months ago viewed Thompson as the candidate who could magically cure what ailed the GOP presidential field -- switched allegiance to John McCain. (D'Amato seems mainly motivated this campaign season to sidetrack fellow New Yorker Rudy Giuliani, long a political foe.)
Thompson entered the White House race with a semi-splash, you'll recall, using the couch on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" to proclaim his candidacy in early September. But by that time, the bloom was already off his rose. His clear interest in running -- and efforts to generate support for such a bid by his longtime political mentor, Howard Baker, and other respected Republicans -- had been a hot topic ...
Read more BREAKING NEWS: Fred Thompson ambles back to the sidelines »
Now that the South Carolina Democratic primary is only four days away, Sen. Hillary Clinton has high-tailed it out of that state for a few days. Say what?
Some see the strategy as a hedge against a loss there Saturday to Sen. Barack Obama, who's shown increasing strength in the African-American community, which makes up about half of that state's Democratic voters. After losing in New Hampshire and Nevada, South Carolina has become something of a must-win for Obama, as he eyes future votes in Georgia and Alabama, also with large black populations.
Clinton spokesmen deny they're conceding anything in South Carolina. In fact, they will have several surrogates in-state including....
Read more As crucial S.C. vote nears, Hillary Clinton goes elsewhere »
It's usually harder to sustain heated arguments seated than while standing up. And that was rarely more evident than at Monday night's debate among the Democratic presidential aspirants.
The fur flew during the first part of the forum in South Carolina, when the three candidates -- Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards -- were on their feet, behind a podium. Obama was in the middle, literally and figuratively.
He got a lecture from Clinton about not being willing to take responsibility for his legislative record (he disagreed, of course), and took grief from both her and Edwards for offering a health-care plan that is not as far-reaching as theirs (he argued it is more realistic).
But the combatants dialed it down considerably when they settled into chairs for the debate's second half.
Obama, for instance, had a chance to ignite ...
Read more The candidates take a seat, and tempers cool »
Throughout the summer and into the fall, there was one consensus among the Republican presidential contenders when they met to debate -- Hillary Clinton would be the Democratic nominee, and the GOP needed to judge which of its candidates could best carry the party's flag against her.
The anointing of Clinton by the Republicans began to fade even before Barack Obama's win in the Iowa caucuses (which, though it may seem like ancient history, occurred less than three weeks ago). And tonight, a bit of role reversal occurred -- the Democrats offered a prediction (albeit a tentative one) on the outcome of the scrambled GOP contest.
John Edwards broached the matter at his party's feisty debate in South Carolina, saying, "It's becoming increasingly likely, I think, that John McCain is going to be the Republican candidate."
That no doubt took aback Mitt Romney and his aides (if they were listening). Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani also would quibble with the call. But Edwards had a self-interested rationale for ignoring those other Republicans.
With conventional wisdom holding that McCain would run the GOP's strongest race in the fall -- and threaten to topple assumptions that this is going to be a Democratic year -- Edwards wanted to press the case ...
Read more Edwards goes where pundits fear to tread »
What a difference a week (or, more precisely, just six days) can make.
When the Democratic presidential candidates gathered last Tuesday in Las Vegas for a debate after several days of racially tinged bickering between Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and their surrogates, the two candidates decided to take a step back and cool the tensions.
Tonight in South Carolina, with potentially make-or-break contests in the party's presidential race looming, the gloves came off quickly, with Clinton and Obama engaging in their most heated one-on-one exchanges to date.
Obama came out swinging first, using a fairly routine question -- about Clinton's charges that he hasn't spelled out how he would pay for programs he has proposed -- as a springboard to vent over what he considers a range of unfair criticism directed at him of late by her and her husband, Bill Clinton.
Hillary Clinton would have none of it, and she took after Obama on a variety of topics. Obama, in turn, attacked her and before the back-and-forth was over, each had turned over rocks they had avoided before.
Obama took a shot at Clinton for working as "a corporate lawyer sitting on the board of Wal-Mart" while he was ...
Read more Clinton, Obama go for the jugulars (each other's) »
Former President Bill Clinton attended a service today marking the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Apparently, it went on for a while.
--Andrew Malcolm
We think we've seen this dynamic before -- and likely will again.
As a prelude to the debate among the Democratic presidential candidates in South Carolina tonight (on CNN, starting at 5 p.m. PST), the center of attention within the party is the fellow who's already served two terms in the White House (and hopes to return as First Laddy) -- Bill Clinton.
Barack Obama put the ex-president squarely in his sights in an interview that aired today on ABC's "Good Morning America." Obama didn't mince words, charging that Clinton has been making "false statements" about him and vowing to confront him more directly about that.
Meanwhile, the story generating the most attention in political circles is a Newsweek piece reporting that no less of a party icon than Ted Kennedy -- as well as others -- have privately suggested to Clinton that he be a bit more diplomatic in pushing his wife's cause over Obama's in the Democratic race. (The story's headline: "Leading Democrats to Bill Clinton: Pipe down.")
Clinton also was the target of a public barb today.
At the annual ceremony in Atlanta ...
Read more Bill Clinton and the spotlight simply go together »
LAS VEGAS -- Not sure what today's results from the Nevada caucuses and South Carolina Republican primary mean? Well, that's why they make the Sunday morning shows (and no, there is not a movement in Congress to rename it "Spinday").
On CBS' "Face The Nation," you get John Edwards and, in a lovely moment of irony, David Axelrod, who was one of Edwards top advisors four years ago but is working for Barack Obama this time around, along with Politico's Roger Simon to keep them honest.
"Fox News Sunday" has Mitt Romney, and "ABC This Week" has Rudy Giuliani. "CNN Late Edition" has what might be the most interesting panel of the day with South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn and Michigan Democratic Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, who will probably be looking ahead to next week's South Carolina Democratic primary on the heels of the Nevada caucuses today and the party's Michigan non-primary last week. And Clyburn is part of a double-header -- he's also on C-SPAN'S "Newsmakers" show at 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. Pacific time.
And if that's not enough spin, we offer you this:
-- Scott Martelle
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina could be excused for irrational exuberance tonight as he basked in the glow of the hard-fought victory by his friend and ally, John McCain, in the Palmetto State's GOP presidential primary. Still, Graham's attempt at political analysis left something to be desired.
The Times' Maeve Reston was on the scene at McCain's victory party in Charleston when Graham, the campaign's co-chair in South Carolina, predicted his favored candidate now would have "unstoppable momentum" leading up to Florida's Jan. 29 primary.
If so, McCain would be the first -- in either the Republican or Democratic races -- to truly capture the "Big Mo" this year. His fortunes in Florida now should be improved, but it's hard to imagine GOP voters in the Sunshine State will now be swept off their feet by McCain-a-mania -- especially given that he won in South Carolina by all of three percentage points and garnered just a third of the total vote.
As we noted recently in print, this has been a surge-less campaign so far.
In the Republican race ...
Read more McCain set to go on a roll? »
We have to give Duncan Hunter -- the little-noticed and, of late, almost completely ignored Republican presidential candidate -- credit for good sense on at least one count.
He didn't bother spending any money on renting a place for campaign aides and supporters to gather today in Nevada (even though it only needed to be a small room). Nor did he write a check for space in South Carolina.
Instead, starting his day in Reno, he watched as he got creamed in Nevada's midday caucuses. Then, as the first votes trickled in from South Carolina, it quickly became clear he was suffering a similar rebuff in that state's primary (as of now, it looks like he'll be lucky to break the 1,000-vote mark in the Palmetto State).
Early this evening, he bowed to the inevitable and issued a statement officially ending a White House bid that was the very definition of quixotic. He said that "not being able to gain traction in conservative states of Nevada and South Carolina" meant that "it's time to allow our volunteers and supporters to focus on the campaigns that remain viable."
Not that it particularly matters, given the un-viability of his campaign, but Hunter made no endorsement in his statement. But perhaps he will later tonight -- he's returning to San Diego and will speak to backers at the Broadway Pier at 8 p.m. (PST).
[UPDATE: Hunter did not cast his lot with another candidate. Nor did he indicate whether he would. Nor is it clear whether any of the remaining campaigns much care].
-- Don Frederick
One of the best things about the South Carolina Republican primary election today is that the rest of us won't have to hear any more about the Confederate flag.
Many Americans, who do not reside in South Carolina or Arkansas or Tennessee or Alabama or Georgia, may have thought that issue was settled in 1865. But that flag symbol retained special emotional power in South Carolina where, despite Appomattox Courthouse, it flew over the state Capitol until 2000.
For some it was -- and is -- a proud yahoo symbol of being Southern, suitable for the bumpers and rear windows of pickup trucks of males typically with two first names. For others, the flag of the losing side in what some still call....
Read more A sure sign it's election day in South Carolina »
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