Vote '08

The first American female on a presidential ticket refuses to back down from comments she made earlier this week about Barack Obama.

UPDATE/5:16pm: CNN is reporting that Ferraro is leaving the Clinton campaign fundraising team.

UPDATE/5:22pm: Talking Points Memo has the letter:

Dear Hillary -I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign.

The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you.

I won’t let that happen.

Thank you for everything you have done and continue to do to make this a better world for my children and grandchildren.

You have my deep admiration and respect.

Gerry

Find out more about what the fuss is all about after the jump.

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Continuing our theme of checking up on former GOP presidential candidates…

MEMO

TO: What’s left of the Fred Thompson campaign

FROM:

RE: Your current campaign website

Um… guys? What’s going on?

Signed,

…

Don’t believe I’ve linked you to the right place?

Go ahead, then — type www.fred08.com into your browser & see what happens. I’ll wait.

Anyone care to speculate on what’s up??

UPDATE/THURSDAY, 8:49am: The site’s been changed, word musta got out. Here’s a screen grab in case you missed it:

It was just this word, “Success,” on a blank screen. Very odd.

No, Republicans, we haven’t forgotten you, & we’re sorry if you’ve felt “ignored” as of late here — it’s just that all the spotlights continue to be on the Democratic race — trust me, the longer they soak those spotlights up, the better-positioned your candidate will be.

But there are developments happening on the Republican side of the race to the White House. Take Mitt Romney, for example. He’s in the news again!

After the jump, you’ll see a clip of his first interview since he first ’suspended’ his campaign, where he talks about how he’d love for John McCain to put him on the ticket.

& speculates on whether Romney would add lift or drag to John McCain’s trajectory.

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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is a superdelegate, but as of now, she’s officially “uncommitted.”

This is of course smart for her, as she’s the highest ranking Democratic party member in the U.S. Government.

But a brief interview on a supposed “Obama/Clinton” or “Clinton/Obama” dream ticket showed her possibly revealing which way she’ll swing.

Watch it after the jump.

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Barack Obama won the Mississippi primary yesterday, 61% to Clinton’s 37%.

Based on those percentages, Obama will get 17 of the state’s 33 delegates, & Clinton will get 11. (there are 5 superdelegates still hanging).

Current delegate count: Obama 1606, Clinton 1484.

After the jump, we’ll

1. Take a look at some Mississippi voter exit polls,
2. Find out about another delegate win for Obama announced yesterday,
3. Look into Clinton’s argument that a primary win in a given state translates into a win for the party in the general election, &
4. Take a look ahead (a loooong look ahead) to the next primary, in Pennsylvania.

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Welcome to Mississippi Primary Day, the latest in our state primary/caucus travelogue.

33 delegates are at stake in today’s Magnolia state contest.

After the jump, we delve into polls & predictions — plus find out which state should have had their primary today.. but didn’t.

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Obama wins Wyoming, 61-38.

He gets 7 delegates added to Clinton’s 5.

Pledged delegates, Obama/Clinton: 1378/1223

Committed Superdelegates, Obama/Clinton: 210/245

Total delegate count as of Monday morning, Obama/Clinton: 1588/1468.

Obama has a 120-delegate advantage at the moment.

On to Mississippi! Check back for our upcoming preview of the Magnolia state primary soon…

The volunteers for all three campaigns - not to mention the candidates themselves - are in desperate need of a vacation.

Tempers are flaring, nerves are shot.. & we’re a long, LONG way from wrapping this up.

Evidence that everyone needs to take a nice relaxing ‘time out’ after the jump.

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The A.P.’s running a story about Ron Paul indicating he may drop out of the race soon:

WASHINGTON - GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul is hinting to supporters that he is ending his long-shot campaign for the presidency. The Texas Republican congressman addressed supporters in a 7 1/2-minute video on his campaign Web site Thursday night and did not specifically say he was quitting the race. He said that although victory in the conventional political sense is not available in the presidential race, many victories have been achieved due to the hard work and enthusiasm of his supporters. He said that he hoped that one day he and his supporters could look back and say his campaign was a significant first step that signaled a change in direction for the country. Paul said their job now was to plan for the next phase of their effort.

Watch the entire 7-1/2 minute clip & decide for yourself after the jump! (NOW UPDATED with Ron Paul supporter reaction)

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Tonight on NewsChannel 9 at 5:30, we took a look into the sticky issue of pensions for police officers & firefighters for the city of Chattanooga.

You can read more of NewsChannel 9 reporter Will Carr’s excellent coverage of that story here, here, here, & here, & find Derek Dellinger’s report on today developments here.

As a jumping off point, the 5:30 newscast examined the broader issue facing many Americans - how to pay for health care during their retirement.

A survey released yesterday by Fidelity Investments finds folks face an uphill climb when it comes to paying for health care during retirement. Fidelity found a couple retiring this year will need about 225 thousand dollars in savings to pay for health costs. That’s up almost 5 percent from last year. And it’s up from 160 thousand dollars which Fidelity projected as a cost in 2002.

After the jump, we’ll take a look at what each candidates plans are for fixing the broken health care system, according to each of their campaign’s websites - & don’t worry, we’ll be painting in broad brushstrokes, & provide you a link to more details if you want them.

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The good news: Hillary raised a bunch of money since Tuesday.

The bad news: The circular firing squad is apparently continuing behind the scenes of her campaign.

…if Barack Obama is the nominee.

In the last few days take note of how she has given the GOP a wealth of soundbites attacking Barack Obama’s experience.

Granted, it’s fair game, but if he’s the eventual nominee, Democrats will rue the day she made these statements.

NewsChannel9.com web poll update/5:42pm:

Regardless of your personal preference, who do you think will end up winning the Democratic nomination for President?
Hillary Clinton
54%
Barack Obama
46%
Total Votes: 57

President George W. Bush has just endorsed John McCain for president.

(Details from ABC News)

At the Rose Garden news conference, it was remarkable how much Bush dominated the event. He appeared to be more animated in making the case for John McCain than John McCain did. In fact, a non-English-speaking Martian landing to see the event would probably assume McCain was the current office holder & Bush was the current nominee.

When a reporter asked an open-ended question to the two of them, Bush jumped right in & answered it without giving McCain a first shot.

At another point, Bush force-fed to McCain which reporter to give the next question.

Republicans, as we said in the post below, you have many reasons to be riding high today. But you had better hope while the spotlight’s off your nominee that he works hard at improving his delivery & energy. The lack of it comes across to voters in a huge, albeit subliminal, way.

What do you think? Will Bush’s endorsement help McCain or hurt him? Should the president campaign for McCain — or keep his distance? Post a comment & tell us!

P.S. Head back over to NewsChannel9.com & vote in our latest web poll:

Regardless of your personal preference, who do you think will end up winning the Democratic nomination for President?

Results as of 1:37pm: Obama/44%, Clinton/56%

UPDATE: there’s already an ad tying Bush to McCain. Take a look:

Who won last night? EVERYBODY DID!

Forgive Vote08 for lapsing into an old liberal stereotype, but after the jump, we’ll make our case & put the night’s biggest winners in order of magnitude.

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Today is a pivotal moment for all four of the major remaining Presidential candidates.

There are a lot of numbers to digest, & issues to be resolved:

• Will Hillary Clinton stay in the race after today?
  
• Can Barack Obama deliver decisive victories that will convince his party he will be the nominee?
• Will John McCain attain enough delegates (1191) to end the GOP primary race once & for all?
• Can Mike Huckabee pull out a miracle?
• & by the way, what in the heck is a stuffed quahog?

Vote08 takes a look into the crystal ball after the jump!

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There’s a very interesting article over at Slate that attempts to project which personality type each of the major Presidential candidates has.

One thing you have to get past first is the fact that the reporter in this story took the personality quizzes on behalf of each of the candidates herself. Assuming she gave accurate answers for each of the candidates, let’s take a look at what she found after the jump.

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Hillary appeared on Saturday Night Live over the weekend. Here’s the clip.

Far more serious (& more entertaining, at least in this blogger’s eyes) was a 60 Minutes piece on the fight for Ohio, which you can see here. (sorry, the full segment’s not on YouTube)

Interesting to note in that clip how the Obama rumors (since proven false many times over) about his religion & his patriotism still persist.

Also, in case you didn’t believe Vote08 when we said Karl Rove was trying to discourage many in the GOP’s attacks on Barack Obama’s middle name, here’s more from Rove himself, on Fox News Sunday:

& on Friday, Mike Huckabee appeared on the Tyra Banks show:

What do you think about any of these clips?

Hillary Clinton is pulling out a few more stops, & getting tough in a new ad airing in Texas & Ohio called “Children:”

Obama wasted no time in answering the charge, making these comments on the stump in Texas today (hat tip to the Politico)

“Now before we open this up for conversation, I just want to take a moment to respond to an ad that Sen. Clinton is apparently running today that asks, “Who do you want answering the phone in the White House when it’s 3 a.m. and something has happened in the world?”

We’ve seen these ads before. They’re the kind that play on peoples’ fears to scare up votes.

Well it won’t work this time. Because the question is not about picking up the phone. The question is - what kind of judgment will you make when you answer? We’ve had a red phone moment. It was the decision to invade Iraq. And Sen. Clinton gave the wrong answer. George Bush gave the wrong answer. John McCain gave the wrong answer.”

Also:

“And I’ll never see the threat of terrorism as a way to scare up votes, because it’s a threat that should rally this country around our common enemies. That’s the judgment we need at 3 a.m. And that’s the judgment that I am running for president to provide.”

Obama is beating both Clinton & McCain in terms of rapid response.

It is Friday, & John McCain is still making an argument with a statement Obama made at a debate Tuesday night about the presence of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Let’s forget about the merits of this issue for a moment to take note that three days later, John McCain is still pressing the same point about the same line. Obama, meanwhile, has moved on to respond to an ad that most of the electorate probably hasn’t even seen yet. The news cycle on the above ad is not even a day old yet & he’s successfully inserted his response into it. Coverage will now include both sides.

As my news director just pointed out to me, Obama has learned some of the same lessons we at NewsChannel9 have. We strive to have new information accurately posted on the web whenever it comes in, as quickly as possible — especially when it’s not while a newscast is currently airing. We have learned that you, the news consumer, get your news on your own time - not on ours. This is the nature of news in the 21st century. Both Clinton & McCain need to learn this lesson quickly if they plan to have any kind of a slowing impact on the candidacy of Barack Obama. It’s all about the rapid response.

ADDENDUM: Here’s Obama’s response ad. Note how similar it is to Hillary’s.

One other quick note: the Clinton team has hinted that they stand ready to file some sort of a lawsuit in Texas on the night of the Texas primary.

What do you think? Post a comment & let us know!

For the month of February:

Hillary Clinton: $35 million

Barack Obama: $50 million

Clinton did outperform Obama’s January numbers. But she’s still behind the 8-ball.

Many of you may wonder, considering the current state of her campaign, how she got so much money.

Simple. She has lost contests.

Every time a candidate does that, that candidate will raise more money from her supporters. Obama got a similar fundraising bounce after his loss in New Hampshire.

What about John McCain? As of Thursday evening his campaign has not released any figures. It’s an easy bet his number will be far below the two figures cited above. FRIDAY UPDATE: He’s raised $12 million in February. Ouch.

Newsweek’s Howard Fineman calls last night’s debate “Ali-Frazier in Cleveland,” & he’s right. This was a heavily fought battle that ended with no knockout punch between two candidates who deserve to be where they are right now.

After the jump, some video highlights…

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Back before they were buddies, before the White House circled the wagons around the 2008 presumptive Republican nominee in the wake of last week’s New York Times story, George W. Bush & John McCain were bitter rivals in the race for the Republican nomination in 2000. After the jump, find out how what Bush said on the campaign trail 8 years ago differs widely from what he’s saying today.

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Mitt Romney famously ’suspended’ his campaign earlier this month. Now there’s a hint he used that word for a reason.

Find out why after the jump.

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McCain starts a contest with Barack Obama at a fundraising & voter disadvantage.

After the jump, speculation on how the GOP would run against him.

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She’s got to do something, & quick.

Find out what the latest thinking is inside the campaigns after the jump.

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Check out the above clip which notes an eerie similarity between Hillary’s last line last night & one used earlier by John Edwards.

There’s also this:

Bill Clinton, 1992: “The hits that I took in this election are nothing compared to the hits the people of this state and this country have been taking for a long time.”

Hillary Clinton, last night: “You know, the hits I’ve taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country.”

Is it wrong to use a good line like this? Of course not. But it exposes her attack on Obama’s supposed “plagiarizing” as awfully flimsy.

Well, this is a bit of a bombshell I guess we should have expected.

Hey, Texas voters! Are you ready to be marginalized?

It looks as if that’s exactly what Hillary Clinton is beginning to do. Proof in the pudding — from an interview done just today (Feb. 22nd) after the jump.

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Those of you who have thought the GOP nomination race was all wrapped up need to start paying attention again.

See why after the jump.

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Obama fans: You still have reason to be optimistic, but your candidate didn’t appear to close the deal on undecideds last night.

Hillary fans: Your candidate held her own last night, particularly at the end, & though you should still prepare yourself for disappointment, you shouldn’t be disappointed in how she did.

Vote08 brings you the Austin debate’s highs & lows after the jump.

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