Tag: Hillary Clinton

Clinton at the Pier, Seattle 8:30 PM Feb. 7, 2008 – 5000 people
Obama at Key Arena, Seattle 11:00 AM Feb. 8, 2008 – 17,000+ inside (capacity), 3,000 -10000 (outside)
McCain at Westin Hotel, 5 PM Feb. 8, 2008 – unknown

Trying to make their last impressions before our caucus 1:00 PM Feb. 9, 2008

My son went to Obama – said it was all lit up electronically like at a Sonics game with the camera panning around at people dancing to music, doing the wave, etc. & they showed it on four-sided big screen that hangs from the ceiling. He said there were an amazing number of young people but all ages too, lots of minorities, and so many who took off work for it. He had friends who took the day off and couldn’t even get in.

Obama said he is looking forward to a debate with the presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain. “I think it will be fun.”

The emails are starting to come in:

I recall going to the Cow Palace in San Francisco to see JFK during the campaign and they shut the doors after 20,000 jammed the old barn. That’s when I knew something special was happening.

and

Suzy and I drove over to Key Arena to hear Obama!! Went past the Pacific Science Center and saw A LINE OF FOLKS ALL THE WAY FROM THE KEY ARENA past the PACIFIC SCIENCE CENTER and down to the STREET! Finally got parked, walked 5 blocks upto the THE KEY. The MOB was 15,000 capacity inside [no we didn’t get inside!] and another 10,000 folks outside. Lots of announcements about keeping FIRE EXITS clear!!! Amazing !!

PS -Hillary got 5,000 at Pier 30 last night! GO OBAMA!!!

Last night, the Senate voted on two FISA amendments, which is all well and good I suppose.  This is a battle over whether the government can spy on it’s citizens, and if there will be retroactive immunity for the telecoms which may have helped facilitate this spying.  Here are the links to the DKos MP threads for the two votes:

First Vote

Second Vote

Crossposted at Daily Kos

Every student of American History knows that only two serving United States Senators (Warren G. Harding in 1920 and John F. Kennedy in 1960) have ever been elected directly to the Office of President of the United States.  Add James Garfield in 1880 as the only serving member from the United States House of Representatives and that’s all the serving legislators ever who have gone directly from the national legislature to the White House since 1789.

Barring a major and unexpected surprise, another first will occur in presidential politics in November 2008: for the very first time in our political history, nominees of both major political parties will be serving United States Senators.  Mitt Romney’s withdrawal from the Republican race today also ensures a first in American politics since the 1960 Election: it’s a near certainty that a serving United States Senator will be elected President.

In the intervening forty eight years since JFK’s election, dozens of serving Members of Congress had tried, with most of them failing miserably.  In fact, only four even became their party’s nominee — Goldwater ’64, McGovern ’72, Dole ’96, and Kerry ’04 — only to lose in the general election.

Is this historic first an utter coincidence?

I get emails every day.  Tons of them.  Most are from political organizations, newspapers, blogs, pollsters, and, yes, even from presidential candidates asking me for money.  Well, just as this story was breaking this afternoon, I received this email from Hillary Clinton herself

Dear JekyllnHyde,

We had a huge night last night — we won the biggest states and the most votes, and we are ahead in the overall race for delegates.  But this race is far from over.

We don’t have time to catch our breath — the next races are just three days away, and there are 10 more contests in February alone.

Let’s meet this moment with bold action worthy of those who have put their faith in us. We are setting a big goal for the next three days: raise $3 million to fund our history-making campaign.

Thank you,

Hillary

Something, though, was missing from her email: it’s a bit vanilla.  And I, like many people, prefer Haagen Daaz’ creme brulee flavor.

…Or, how Democrats Eat Their Own.

Talking Points Memo has an article up describing Obama’s latest mailer attacking the Clinton Presidency:

In what may be Obama’s most direct and aggressive criticism of Bill Clinton’s presidency yet, the Obama campaign dropped a new mailer just before Super Tuesday that blasts “the Clintons” for wreaking massive losses on the Democratic party throughout the 1990s.

“8 years of the Clintons, major losses for Democrats across the nation,” reads the mailer, which goes on to list the post-1992 losses suffered by Dems among governors, Senators and members of the House of Representatives. The mailer was forwarded to us by a political operative who told us it was sent to Alaska, though it was probably sent elsewhere, too.

link: http://tpmelectioncentral.talk…

Here are some observations on yesterday’s vote.  (There will be more in the days to come now that I have some time back after making around 1000 calls for the Obama campaign.)

Talking about Hillary is the main course in this diary, but would you like to start with an appetizer?  Let’s talk about Huckabee.  The venerable NYT announces that Huckabee has been revived with a solid showing in the South.  This is stupid.  Why?  Well, let’s take a look at the GOP primary map.  Huckabee is running out of South!

See, the problem with winning mostly just one section of the country is that after that section has voted in its primaries — it doesn’t vote again.  (Michigan and Florida will, I predict, be exceptions to this rule, as the Democrats let them vote again in late May or early June, or perhaps hold caucuses or choose delegates at state conventions.)

So if you look at that map and try to find “South,” you’ll see that Huckabee has Louisiana coming up on Saturday (I predict he’ll win), Virginia (only semi-South these days) next Tuesday, Texas (again not fully South) on March 4, and Mississippi on March 11.  Even if he lasts that long, he won’t last long enough to see North Carolina, Kentucky, or (counting the bottom part of the state) Indiana vote in May.  So, Huckabee is not “revived” — he has, instead, “shot his wad,” although I don’t think the NYT would include that in a headline.  But they need a storyline, so there they go.  Romney will still finish second when push comes to shove.  I don’t think either one of them will be on the ticket, though: look to Govs. Pawlenty or Crist or (my dark horse, if Rudy can swallow it) Pataki for that.

Is anyone else running out of a precious electoral resource?  Why, yes!  Pretend you didn’t already read the title and look below the fold.

For the past two weeks, ever since it became clear that John Edwards was no longer viable, I have been a precinct captain for Barack Obama in the city of Brea, my current home in north Orange County.  I have two precincts, in fact; as the one next to mine was not spoken for, and I didn’t want to leave it uncovered.  So for much of the past two weeks, I’ve been on the phone, calling voters.  Two precincts is about as much as I could handle; in fact, I didn’t finish calling the last 50 voters in my second precinct.  (I may try to catch some of them tomorrow.)  Still, I called over 600 voters — some of which were wrong numbers, not home, etc. — and now it’s time to reap the benefits of having laid that groundwork.

I didn’t have time to canvass homes in person — I don’t think that my talking to people in my own precinct on their doorsteps would be more useful than leaving messages with a large group of other people in the neighboring one.  But now that we’ve identified supporters and undecided voters, I did have time to do a lit drop this evening — about 70 houses.  I made up my own flyer to include with the campaign literature; it explains what I’m thinking and why I think it’s important.

I don’t think that the issue differences between Obama and Clinton are that significant, frankly.  Take health care, for example.  Both of them are wrong: the way to cover everyone, as Atrios says, is to cover everyone: automatic enrollment, with premiums for the base level of coverage included in taxes.  We don’t need mandates, etc.: we need to make that problem go away.  But because whatever the President proposes is not going to be what Congress passes, and because I think either of them will sign a decent bill, their current difference on that issue doesn’t matter to me.

What matters to me is winning the White House.  And so I wrote this letter, which was slipped into the screen doors of our supporters and to undecided voters.  It represents my own views as a campaign volunteer, and was not paid for the campaign.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

What I wanna know is this: historically speaking, who’s supporting whom?  With conflicting signals coming from all over the blogosphere, I have compiled a simple guide for undecided voters so that they can make an informed decision tomorrow aka “The Mother of All Election Days.”

No need to read intricate health care proposals.  Or, trying to figure out who’s for or against granting drivers licenses to undocumented aliens.  Or, agonizing over as to who has more experience or better judgment.  Or, wasting your precious time listening to talking heads on this or that cable news show.  Or, keeping track of which of the numerous Kennedys is for Obama or for Hillary.    

Folks, it ain’t that difficult to figure all of this out.  

Simply read my one-minute guide and I’m hopeful that you’ll do the right thing.  

Still not decided on who you might cast your ballot, or whatever, for?

Well The Real News have a few interviews with Jonathan Schell on his take on the candidates and their possible Foreign Policy Directions.

Who is Jonathan Schell, if you didn’t already know:

Based in New York City, USA, Jonathan Schell is a renowned anti-nuclear activist, prolific journalist, lecturer and best-selling author. He is a frequent contributor to The Nation, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine and Atlantic Monthly. He is also the author of The Fate of the Earth, nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Schell is a board member of IWT – The Real News.

My four year old son is having his adenoids and tonsils out early tomorrow, leaving me no time to vote in my neighborhood. So I headed to San Francisco City Hall today and underwent my own surgery. On myself. With a dull scalpel, a dirty sponge, and no anesthesia whatsoever. With eyes squinched I extracted my vote. It wasn’t joyless, but it still hurts.

I’ve posted long and often about my indecision.  I believe we have two excellent candidates, two great Democrats.  They differ on some details, but they both want healthcare for all, a clean and living planet, better schools, and repeal of the tax cut for the richest Americans.  And the war? Yeah, I know Clinton voted for it, but they both want us out now and, as much as I disagreed with her vote, I’m glad she understands the need to end this fiasco.

Obama captures an excitement that will be his to lose if he gets the nomination and, if he does, he better be prepared, lose that stutter, and get smooth in the face of attack.  He has the potential to be one of the most influential leaders of our century or the biggest disappointment in our lifetimes.

(more beneath the scar)

In the middle of the mandate pie-fight (which just had a big ole can of gas dumped on it today by Paul Krugman), I think it’s important for folks to understand that – mandates aside – there’s still issues with both Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s health care plans that need to be addressed. I’m going to pick the big, blank area of each plan that leaves it open to attack, because my primary goal is to have a viable universal health care plan introduced by whoever wins the Democratic nomination (and then hopefully the presidency) as quickly as possible.