NPR: The NPR News Blog

April 30, 2008

Obama Camp Demands Investigation of Pro-Clinton 527

The Obama campaign has accused an independent group supporting Hillary Clinton of violating election laws. The Obama camp wants an investigation by the Federal Election Commission or the Justice Department.

The American Leadership Project has spent several hundred thousand dollars for this attack ad in Indiana:

The project has run 4 TV ads this year -- two attacking Obama, two promoting Clinton.

Obama campaign lawyer Bob Bauer says that takes the group over the line into illegal territory. He says the Federal Election Commission set the standard in 2006 with cases against Swift Boat Veterans and other so-called 527 groups.

"There is no chance that ALP can credibly argue that it didn't know it was violating the law," says Bauer.

Lawyers for the American Leadership Project say that it can exist, legally, as a 527 group. They say it's concerned about issues and is not explicitly calling for Clinton to win the nomination.

-- Peter Overby

Gas Tax Holiday Idea Not Winning Many Supporters

Survey says ... gas tax holiday is just not a good idea.

Other than Sen. John McCain and Sen. Hillary Clinton, it seems to be heard to find anyone who thinks that a gas tax holiday is a good idea.

Former Clinton Energy Secretary Federico Peña released a statement via the Obama campaign today that said " ...a gas tax holiday would save the average family only about 30 cents a day. It's designed to win elections, not fix our energy problems."

Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter is pretty blunt. He describes this proposal as "the most irresponsible policy idea of the year--an idea that actually could aid the terrorists. What's worse, both of them know that suspending the federal gas tax this summer is a terrible pander, and yet they're pushing it anyway for crass political advantage."

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman was equally as cutting.

"It is great to see that we finally have some national unity on energy policy," he wrote. "Unfortunately, the unifying idea is so ridiculous, so unworthy of the people aspiring to lead our nation, it takes your breath away ... This is not an energy policy. This is money laundering: we borrow money from China and ship it to Saudi Arabia and take a little cut for ourselves as it goes through our gas tanks. What a way to build our country."

Yesterday Times columnist Paul Krugman (who has been accused by many Obama supporters of being a Clinton supporter) said he didn't like the idea either:" ... John McCain has a really bad idea on gasoline, Hillary Clinton is emulating him (but with a twist that makes her plan pointless rather than evil), and Barack Obama, to his credit, says no."

Sam Stein of the Huffington Post called economists of every political ideology he could find and not a single one supported the gas tax holiday idea.

Then today in the Washington Post The Trail column, Perry Bacon Jr. writes that "Clinton aides think that even if the measure [gas tax holiday] is a limited way to reduce gas prices, it allows the candidate to bash oil companies and cast her opponent against an idea that has political appeal."

DC Non-Profit Confirms It is Making N.C. Robocalls

Women's Voices Women Vote told the News Blog this afternoon that it is the source of robocalls in North Carolina that have, according to the The Institute of Southern Studies Facing South blog, "spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week..."

Women's Voices Women Vote is a Washington D.C. non-profit organization that works to register unmarried women to vote. Communications Director Sarah Johnson says that unmarried women are less likely to vote than their "married sisters."

So as part of a 24-state mailing campaign, according to Johnson, Women's Voices helped send out voter registration packages in the mail. Women just need to fill out the forms and send them back by mail to be registered to vote.

Johnson said they also made automated phone calls to voters in North Carolina when they had the person's number to tell them about the registration packages.

Sounds innocent enough, right? Only problem is that the deadline for mailing in voter registration forms in the mail has already passed in North Carolina. And those robocalls? Johnson confirmed that the calls didn't bother to mention that the deadline had passed and that the forms were only for the fall election. Nor did they identify Women's Voices as the source of the call. The calls instead came from a "Lamont Williams" which Johnson told the News Blog is just an automated voice.

"We do see there this is causing confusion and we completely apologize for the confusion," said Johnson. Johnson says that in the future, any phone calls will contain correct voter information and the source of the calls.

But Facing South alleges there is more to this situation that a simple mistake in timing.

Continue reading "DC Non-Profit Confirms It is Making N.C. Robocalls" »

Obama Picks Up Three Superdelegates, Clinton Two

OK, get out your scorecard.

We blogged about this a bit earlier today, but the superdelegate endorsements are coming in fast and furious.

Sen. Barack Obama has picked up the endorsements of three Democratic members of the House of Representatives today: Iowa Rep. Bruce Braley, Indiana Rep. Baron Hill and California rep. Lois Capps. That makes it 77-77 in House endorsements for Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton. Obama leads in the Senate 18-13.

Meanwhile Sen. Clinton picked up the endorsements of Pennsylvania superdelegate and AFL-CIO biggie Bill George, along with Puerto Rico's Luisette Cabanas.

Since his loss in Ohio, Obama has picked up 41 superdelegates, Clinton ten. Since his loss in Pennsylvania, Obama has picked up ten supers and Clinton six. There are 235 left to publicly declare support for either candidate.

Clinton leads 262 superdelegates (only, not overall total) to 242.

Democrats Say Freedom' s Watch A 'Political Group'

The campaign committee for House Democrats has asked the IRS to investigate the activities of a conservative advocacy group.

There's a special election for an open House seat in Louisiana, and Freedom's Watch is running an ad attacking Democrat Don Cazayoux as a big-spending liberal.

"Where does Don Cazayoux stand? With Barack Obama for a big government scheme. Their plan raises...." the ad proclaims.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee accuses Freedom's Watch of being a political operation, that's getting away with the tax breaks meant for non-partisan organizations.

Freedom's Watch is financed by big donors. Democrats say it's doing work that the National Republican Congressional Committee can't do, because its contributions are down.

But a spokesman for Freedom's Watch says the Democrats don't understand the law.

Freedom's Watch spokesman Ed Patru says the group's tax-exempt status permits some political work. And his organization is careful to stay on the right side of the law.

-- Peter Overby

FactCheck: DNC Ad on McCain Misleading

FactCheck.org takes a look at the new Democratic National Committee ad about Sen. John McCain's statement that a 100-year U.S. presence in Iraq would be "fine with me." And FactCheck finds that the DNC leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to getting the facts straight.

Here is the ad:

Here's what FactCheck had to say:

The clear implication is that if McCain is elected, we can expect to be battling in Iraq for many decades to come. But the admakers cut off the rest of McCain's response, which provides some badly needed context:
McCain, town hall meeting, Jan. 3: Maybe a hundred. ... We've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That would be fine with me, as long as Americans, as long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed. It's fine with me and I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world.

FactCheck says the DNC ad falsely leads people to believe that McCain would be happy to see the war continue for 100 years at its current level of fighting.

"McCain has said quite clearly that he considers Democratic proposals for a quick withdrawal from Iraq to be 'surrender,' and so deadly fighting could well continue longer under a President McCain than under either a President Hillary Clinton or a President Obama. But what the DNC ad conveys is the opposite of what McCain said."

Obama to Appear on 'Meet the Press' for Entire Hour

NBC is trumpeting its "exclusive" interview with Sen. Barack Obama this coming Sunday on Meet the Press. Obama will be host Tim Russert's only guest for the entire hour.

It's fair to say that this is a decisive moment for Obama. If he comes off looking confident and in control, it will help him a lot in Indiana, North Carolina and with the superdelegates. If he looks bad, or too defensive or too evasive, it could hurt him badly.

McCain's Gas Tax Holiday Runs Contrary to Other Positions

John McCain's economic adviser believes in price signals.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin spoke approvingly during a conference call Tuesday about how the Safeway supermarket chain lowered its health care costs by sending a strong price signal to employees. In order to encourage workers to take advantage of preventive care, Safeway made it free. No co-pays. No deductibles, for things like smoking cessation and nutrition courses.

Just as lowering prices helps to encourage healthy behavior, raising prices (with a cigarette tax, for example, or higher health insurance premiums for smokers) can help discourage unhealthy behavior.

"There's a good role for public awareness of what contributes to the problem," Holtz-Eakin said.

That's what prices do.

So it's a little puzzling that McCain wants to interfere with the price signal energy markets have been sending.

Since the beginning of the year, the price of crude oil has risen about $20 per barrel. And the price of gasoline has jumped about 50 cents a gallon.

Motorists got the message. According to the Energy Department, demand for gasoline fell more than 6% between January and February, and demand for all finished petroleum products dropped 8.5%.

Instead of simply allowing those market forces to keep working, McCain has proposed lifting the federal gasoline tax during the busy summer driving season from Memorial Day to Labor Day. And now Hillary Clinton has agreed.

Americans are addicted to oil, much of it imported. As McCain himself points out, this contributes to our trade deficit and some of the money we send overseas for oil goes to people who don't have the United States' best interests at heart.

The long term solutions to this are greater fuel efficiency and alternative fuels. The short term solution is to drive less.

So what kind of signal does McCain's proposed lifting of the gas tax send?

-- Scott Horsley

Indiana Polls Show a Tight Democratic Race

Polls in Indiana appear to be all over the place.

A Public Policy Polling survey gave Clinton an 8-point lead, 50%-42%. They interviewed 1388 likely Democratic primary voters with a +/- of 2.2%. But PPP also uses robo-polling, a method which some experts considered not as accurate as operator-initiated calls (being asked questions by "live" humans).

On the other hand, an independent survey (done with live operators) for Howey Politics Indiana conducted by Gauge Market Research shows Obama with a 47% to 45% lead over Clinton. But this survey has a 4.1% +/- margin of error, so it's basically a tie. And this survey was conducted before Rev. Jeremiah Wright's "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it any more" tour.

Real Clear Politics poll average has Clinton with a 2.2% lead.

Battle for Congressional Superdelegates May Be Over

It increasingly looks like the battle on Capitol Hill for the support of Democratic superdelegates is winding down, and that Sen. Barack Obama may be coming out on top.

Politico.com reports that "While more than 80 Democrats in the House and Senate have yet to state their preferences in the race for the Democratic nomination, sources said Tuesday that most of them have already made up their minds and have told the campaigns where they stand."

As a result the constant pressuring of these superdelegates has slacked off. But as Clinton supporter New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez puts it, "Right now, it's about making sure everyone still feels loved and wanted."

So who are the superdelegates supporting? Neither Sen. Clinton's nor Sen. Obama's camp are saying anything, but Obama supporter Sen. Claire McCaskill says it's her guy.

Obama currently holds an 18-13 lead among committed superdelegates in the Senate, while Clinton holds a 77-74 lead in the House. Asked which way the committed-but-unannounced superdelegates are leaning, McCaskill -- who has endorsed Obama -- said: "James Brown would say, 'I Feel Good.'"

But Clinton spokesman Phil Singer says hold your horses there, Sen. McCaskill. "Considering the rough patch Sen. Obama is going through, it's understandable that Sen. McCaskill would want to change the subject, but her observations don't jibe with what automatic delegates are actually saying," he said.
-----
UPDATE: No sooner did we post this piece when we received an e-mail from the Obama camp announcing that "An aide to U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, says he will announce his endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Wednesday."

That makes the House 77-75 for Clinton.

AND MORE: Clinton picks up another superdelegate too, but not from Congress. Pennsylvania Superdelegate Bill George announced his support for Hillary Clinton today.

Meanwhile, Obama gets another member of the House of Representatives. The Louisville Courier-Journal reports that Indiana 9th District Rep. Baron Hill, a previously uncommitted Democratic superdelegate, is endorsing presidential candidate Barack Obama today.

So its 77-76 in the House. Sen. McCaskill's prediction is looking better.

Edwards Skips North Carolina Before Primary

Hey, John Edwards, now that you've been knocked out of the Democratic presidential race, and both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama are hounding you to endorse one of them before next Tuesday's primary, what are you going to do?

Go to Disney World!

Yes, the Raleigh News and Observer reports that former Sen. Edwards has quietly left the state for a family vacation in at Walt Disney World in Florida, "fueling speculation that he's not going to endorse either Democratic presidential candidate before the May 6 primary."

But the paper notes that Edwards has pulled this before. In 2004 he took his family on a Disney vacation, leading many to believe he was out of the running for Sen. John Kerry's VP pick. But when no one (as in the media) was watching, he flew to D.C. to meet with Kerry.

Probably this time he just wants to escape media questions about who he is going to support.

April 29, 2008

Michigan Backs Down A Bit, Proposes New Solution

Sen. Hillary Clinton will not be happy with this.

Democrats in Michigan have sent a letter to the Democratic National Committee that proposes a new solution to the battle over whether or not they should by allowed to seat their delegates at the national convention. Under their solution, Clinton would pick up a 10-seat advantage in Michigan, with Clinton getting 69 pledged delegates to 59 for Barack Obama.

The letter, sent by Sen. Carl Levin, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick,UAW President Ron Gettelfinger, and DNC Member Debbie Dingell calls on Clinton, Obama and the DNC to sign on to the proposal.

The Obama camp immediately said "we'll look into it." It's not the perfect solution for them, but it's close. Only allowing Clinton to pick up 10 delegates really won't make much of a dent in Obama's pledged delegate lead. That's why this solution still may not fly - it won't make the Clinton camp happy. And DNC chairman Howard Dean has said that both camps have to agree on a solution or else it will go to the credentials committee to work it all out.

Here is the letter:

Continue reading "Michigan Backs Down A Bit, Proposes New Solution" »

Obama, Clinton Pick Up More Superdelegates

As we mentioned yesterday, Sen. Hillary Clinton picked up the endorsement of North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley. At the press conferenced announcing his support for Clinton, Easley immediately angered Philadelphia when he called popular film character Rocky Balboa a "pansy" compared to Clinton. (Yea, but could she go three rounds with Apollo Creed?)

But Sen. Barack Obama also had a good day with superdelegates. He picked up the endorsement of Kentucky Rep. Ben Chandler, and Montana farmer Richard Machaceck, who is also a member of the Democratic National Committee.

Clinton's superdelegate lead continues to shrink. Obama is now only 21 behind her 260-239. He already leads in pledged delegates, popular vote and states won.

Obama Rips into Wright Over NPC Appearance

Sen. Barack Obama Tuesday said he was outraged by comments made by his former Pastor Jeremiah Wright.

"I am outraged by the comments that were made and saddened by the spectacle that we saw yesterday," Obama told reporters at a news conference.

Marc Ambinder at theAtlantic.com says that Obama aides told him that Obama was deeply angry at what Wright said at the National Press Club, and insisted that he hold a second press conference immediately.

Judging by his square jaw and his posture -- rigid -- and his tone of voice -- elegiac and sad at points, and hard and resolute at others, Obama felt aggrieved and disrespected, especially by Wright's implication that Obama's speech on racial politics in Philadelphia was mere politics. "I want to use this press conference to make people absolutely clear that obviously whatever relationship I had with Rev. Wright has changed, he said. "I don't think he showed much concern for me ... and what we are trying to do in this campaign."
"My reaction has more to do with what I want this campaign to be about.... in some ways, what Rev. Wright said yesterday directly contradicts everything that I've done during my life. It contradicts how i was raise and the setting in which I was raised; it contradicts my decision to pursue a career of public service. It contradicts the issues that I've worked on politically."

Here's the video of the press conference:

But as Ambinder notes, the cable news media is already practicing "psychological pornography" analyzing thoughts behind the thinking.

McCain Gives Specifics on Health Care Plan

Arizona Senator John McCain visited a Tampa, Florida cancer center today, and talked up his plan to encourage a more competitive individual market for health insurance.

McCain called the lifesaving care at Tampa's Moffitt Cancer Center an inspiration. The Republican presidential hopeful says the best of American health care should be available to everyone no matter where they work or how much money they have. Too often, he says, the health care system falls short of that goal. McCain has proposed an overhaul that's designed to help more people to buy their own insurance, rather than getting it through an employer or doing without.

"The health plan you chose would be as good as any that an employer could choose for you. It would be yours and your family's health-care plan, and yours to keep. When families are informed about medical choices, they are more capable of making their own decisions, less likely to choose the most expensive and often unnecessary options, and are more satisfied with their choices"

Proponents say having individuals shop for health care would create more competition and lower costs. McCain also proposed tax credits to subsidize the private insurance and letting customers shop for insurance across state lines.

Critics warn those individual policies could be too expensive for older people and those with serious medical conditions. They also say shopping for health care would be fine for young, healthy people, but provide little protection for the sick and elderly.

-- Scott Horsley

Indianapolis Star Interviews Sen. Hillary Clinton

Last week we brought you Sen. Obama, today we bring you Sen. Hillary Clinton talking to the editorial board of the Indianapolis Star.

Continue reading "Indianapolis Star Interviews Sen. Hillary Clinton" »

Economists: Gas Tax Holiday No Break from High Prices

So just how effective would a break from the gas tax be for Americans this summer? Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton say it would be a big help. In Greensboro, N.C. today, Clinton said "I would also consider having a gas tax holiday this summer because we're going to drive a lot of small independent truckers out of business." President Bush agrees with Clinton and McCain.

Sen. Barack Obama, meanwhile, says its all just a mirage, that most Americans would at most get a $30 break - about half a tank.

So what's the real scoop on the gas tax?

Well, psychologically it might give people a sense of a break, but most economists believe that Obama is closer to the reality here. The real bottom line is that a gas tax holiday might actually lead to an increase in gas prices.

Here the argument that most economists are making:

* Gasoline is subject to supply and demand. It's pretty simple economics. If the price is lower, people will drive more. Which means that oil refineries will have to try and produce more but industry experts say refineries are already working at full capacity to meet the current demand. There won't be enough to go around and that means that prices will rise in order to dampen demand. And as Prof. Edinaldo Tebaldi, who teaches international economics and trade, told the Providence Journal, gasoline is in international demand; regardless of what we do here, demand from overseas will keep the price high.

Continue reading "Economists: Gas Tax Holiday No Break from High Prices" »

Names to Watch at Rezko Trial: Rove and Hastert

Most people have been waiting for the name of Sen. Barack Obama to surface during the trial of Chicago developer and political fixer Antoin "Tony" Rezko. (And it did recently, when it appeared in connection with a party held at Rezko's home in April of 2004 on behalf of Nadhmi Auchi, a British citizen appealing a fraud conviction in France. The Swamp writes that Rezko was allegedly trying to partner up with Auchi and may have been using an Obama appearance to demonstrate clout. Obama doesn't deny that he might have been there, but says he doesn't remember the event.)

But the names who have been attracting the most attention over the past few days have been former Bush political guru Karl Rove and former Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

Last week, prosecutors told the judge in the Rezko trial that it has a witness [former Illinois state official Ali Ata] that would testify that he has a conversation with Rezko where it was alleged that Karl Rove was working to remove the Chicago U.S. attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald. As Newsweek notes, the revelation immediately produced reverberations in Washington.

Democrats in Congress now want to question Ata. They believe he can help buttress their theory that Rove played a key role in discussions that led to the firings of U.S. attorneys at the Justice Department in 2006. The House Judiciary Committee "intends to investigate the facts and circumstances alleged in this testimony," panel chairman Rep. John Conyers of Michigan said in a statement to Newsweek.

Ata will allegedly testify that he has a conversation with Rezko where he was told that Bob Kjellander, a prominent GOP state lobbyist, was talking to Rove about getting rid of Fitzgerald.

Continue reading "Names to Watch at Rezko Trial: Rove and Hastert" »

Could Wright's Appearances Actually Help Obama?

The New York Times has an interesting take on this year's main controversy and how it has played out over the past few days. While pundits are saying that Wright's fiery appearances at the NAACP meeting in New York and at the National Press Club will hurt Obama, the Times believes they may help him.

"Cable news commentators have focused on the damage the spectacle inflicted on the embattled Obama campaign. And while Mr. Wright's behavior may not have been politic for Mr. Obama, it was politics as usual for the television age. In at least one way, Mr. Wright's star turn may have helped defuse his importance in the long run. The pastor who was thrust upon the public consciousness as a caricature of the angry black man emerged after an exhaustive series of performances as a more familiar television persona: a voluble, vain and erudite entertainer, a born televangelist who quotes Ralph Ellison as well as the Bible and mixes highfalutin academic trope with salty street talk."

Thoughts? Have Wright's 'in-your-face' appearances actually made it easier for Obama to get distance from him that if Wright had just stayed out of sight?

Candidates' Take Different Paths to Health Care

Sen. John McCain is planning to flesh out his ideas on health care coverage today, so we'll have more details later.

But until, the Indianapolis Star's offers a concise guide to the three-remaining candidates' health care plans, based on what we know so far. Obama and Clinton have been arguing for several months about whose plan covers more Americans. McCain really differs from the Democrats in that he doesn't believe in universal health-care coverage of any kind. (Elizabeth Edwards has been a consistent critic of McCain's health care plan, which she has called "a version of what President Bush is trying to do.")

You can find the Star's short-hand guide here.

Here's McCain's latest health care ad:

Polls Shows Obama Better at Retaining Democrats

Polls are like the weather. If you don't like what you see, wait a couple of days and something new will come along. Sometimes you only have to wait a few hours.

Late yesterday Zogby released a poll that finds almost the exact opposite of the AP-Ipsos poll which showed Sen. Hillary Clinton with a 9-point lead over Sen. John McCain. The Zogby poll shows McCain with a 10-point lead over Clinton 44%-34% (with 16 percent undecided). But he trails Sen. Barack Obama by three points, 45%-42% (with 8 percent undecided).

But it's the surrounding details that are interesting. For instance, in the McCain-Clinton battle Ralph Nader and Bob Barr received 3% and 4% respectively. But in the Obama-McCain matchup, Nader drops to 1% and Barr to 3%.

Even more interesting, the poll puts a twist on previous polls that have shown that more Clinton supporters would vote for McCain if Obama was the nominee than vice-versa.

The online poll, conducted April 25-28, 2008, shows that Obama retains 80% support among Democrats, compared to just 66% of Democrats who said they will back Clinton against McCain, the survey shows. Against Obama, McCain wins 11% of the Democratic support, while he wins 10% support against Clinton. [This would seem to indicate than many Democrats just won't vote --or might voter for Nader -- if In the McCain-Clinton race, 12% of Democrats said they were undecided, compared to just 4% of Democrats who were undecided in the McCain-Obama race.

The survey included 7,653 likely voters nationwide. Zogby uses interactive online polls, which some experts say aren't as reliable as operator-based phone calls to respondents, but Zogby believes otherwise. Zogby says there is only a +/- of 1.1% on the poll.

House Republicans Say Clinton is Tougher Candidate

It seems the Republicans are changing their minds about who would be the tougher candidate to face in the fall. Rep. Tom Cole, the GOP's campaign chief now says Sen. Hillary Clinton would be the tougher candidate for Republicans to face in the fall, rather than Sen. Barack Obama.

"I think he is the weaker (Democratic) candidate," Cole told reporters Monday. Obama "is by any definition very liberal, to the left of Hillary Clinton, in a center-right country," Cole said. "That is very, very helpful to us."

It's an interesting change, but it also begs the question, why is he saying it?

Marc Ambinder of theAtlantic.com thing Cole is "attempting a fumbling jijitsu move by luring the Democrats into a false sense of remorse about almost nominating Obama because Obama, in fact, would be the more difficult candidate."

"Indeed, Democratic superdelegates might actually pay attention to what Tom Cole says. Or he could be telling the truth. I suspect that the actual difference in drag between Clinton, once nominated, and Obama, once nominated, would be fairly minimal, perhaps only a few knots' worth of headwind. In any event, the Democrats are likely to pick up House seats, so even assuming that Cole is telling the truth, what we're debating here is the size of the Democratic margin over Republicans."

April 28, 2008

No Discounts for McCain in Homewood, Alabama

Last week NPR's Peter Overby reported on how Sen. John McCain had gotten a special deal on Rosewood Hall in Homewood, Alabama for a fundraiser. Mayor Barry McCulley, who had arranged the special deal on the hall (about one-quarter of its normal price),said he was just trying to get people to use the hall on a Monday night, normally a slow time.

Democrats complained, however, them weren't able to get a similar deal. (McCulley is not a Republican.)

But Peter e-mailed tonight to pass along this news:

Discount, new low rate or whatever it was, the McCain campaign won't get it. Homewood Mayor McCulley said Monday that he was wrong in letting McCain's campaign pay a reduced fee for its fundraiser at Rosewood Hall, and he's asked the campaign to pay the original cost.
"Short of that," he wrote in a press release, "I will find a way to pay the difference myself."

Serious Straight Talk Express here. And McCulley never used the phrases "I regret the appearance" or "mistakes were made."

Guess times must have been hot for the mayor in Homewood.

Obama Picks Up Superdelegate and Clinton Too ... Maybe

Sen. Barack Obama picked up the endorsement of another superdelegate today. New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman cited Obama's "ability to rise above the issues that divide us, end the war in Iraq, bring universal health care, and make America energy independent."

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that a source close to North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley says the governor will endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton tomorrow. Easley would be just the second superdelegate from North Carolina to endorse Clinton. Six of the state's 17 superdelegates have endorsed Obama.

Earlier today, Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean repeated his demand that superdelegates make up their minds by June 3.

Clinton, Obama Neck and Neck in Democratic Race

Two polls out today show just how tight the race has become between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

The Gallup Daily Tracking polls has Obama up by a point, 47% to 46%, but that's basically a tie when you factor in the margin of error of error of +/- 3 percent. It's also close in a contest with Sen. John McCain, with Clinton leading by 3 points, 47% to 44% and Obama and McCain tied at 45%.

An Associated Press-Ipsos poll has good news for Clinton. It shows her beating McCain in a matchup 50% to 41% (which plays to her "electability" argument) while Obama leads McCain 46% to 44%.

The interesting question that these polls seem to ask is, with everything that has been thrown at Clinton and particularly Obama in the past few weeks -- sniper fire in Bosnia, Rev. Weight, Bill Clinton's comments about race, Obama's bitter remarks -- why is McCain still either behind (in one case signifcantly) or tied with his Democratic rivals? This may be why some Republicans are concerned that as well as he has done, McCain could have problems in the fall.

"The truth of the matter is if the race becomes a race about the issues environment, as opposed to a race about personality and stature differences and ideology, McCain has a real problem," Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio told USAToday. "If we're fighting over whose policy is better on the economy as opposed to who's outside the mainstream in America, we've got a problem as Republicans."

But if McCain runs the right kind of campaign, says Fabrizio, "he could win in a landslide."

McCain Works to Improve Economic Credentials

It's not an easy feat - creating an economic plan which appeals to the Republican's conservative base, but at the same time can attracts independents and maybe even some Democrats. But the Christian Science Monitor reports that GOP presumptive presidential nominee John McCain has been trying to do just that over the past few weeks.

But after eight years of the Bush administration and at a time when the economy is not as strong as many in the GOP would like, it won't be an easy task.

"McCain is trying to distance himself from Bush on the economy, but the eventual Democratic nominee will do everything they can to make him look like he's changed his first name to 'George,' " says Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

If "McCainomics" can be described in a sentence, it might be this: traditional GOP tax-cutting, with a dash of populism sprinkled on top.
To begin with, McCain would make President Bush's tax cuts permanent, rather than let them expire in coming years, as current law calls for. Critics say this is something of a switch for a lawmaker who opposed the tax cuts as too expensive when they were proposed. He would eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax, which has eaten into the incomes of middle-class Americans. This move would cost $60 billion a year, according to campaign estimates.

McCain would double the personal exemption for dependents from $3,500 to $7,000, reduce the corporate tax rate from 35 to 25 percent, and establish a permanent new research-and-development tax credit. At the April 15 speech outlining his economic plan, he also called for the elimination of the federal gasoline tax this summer -- a move that, strictly speaking, the next president would have to go back in time to accomplish.

But Saboto says if the recession is not "short and shallow," it makes McCain's job all that much harder, even with the Democrats locked in a bruising nomination battle.

Supreme Court Rejects Voter I.D. Challenge

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to Indiana's voter-ID laws that requires residents to show a government-approved ID before voting in an election. In a 6-3 decision written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the ScotusBlog reports that "the court ruled that the evidence offered against the requirement in Indiana did not support a challenge to the law as written."

The voter ID ruling may turn out to be a significant victory for Republicans at election time, since the requirement for proof of identification is likely to fall most heavily on voters long assumed to be identified with the Democrats -- particularly minority and poor voters. The GOP for years has been actively pursuing a campaign against what it calls "voter fraud," and the Court's ruling Monday appears to validate that effort, at least in part. The main opinion said states have a valid interest in preventing voting by those not entitled to do so, even if there is no specific proof of that kind of fraud.

But the ruling does not bar future challenges to the law, since three of the justices said the problem was that not enough evidence was presented to overturn the law. Taken with the votes of the three dissenters, "a majority of the Court has not barred all future challenges to voter ID laws, provided future cases seek to test such laws they were actually applied in an election."

Wright Fires Back at Media in Press Club Speech

In a fiery speech and question and answer session at the National Press Club in Washington, Rev. Jeremiah Wright defended himself against allegations that he is unpatriotic, that he thinks American deserved the 9/11 attack and answered questions about why he is coming out to defend himself at this point in time.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright speaks Monday at the National Press Club

Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former pastor of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Illinois, addresses the National Press Club April 28, 2008 in Washington, DC.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Wright was blunt and unapologetic. He said most of the attacks in the media were not on him personally, but on the black church and black church traditions.

When asked if he was unapologetic, he said, "I served six years in the military. Does that make me patriotic? How many years did [Vice President Dick] Cheney serve?" [Cheney received several deferments and never served in Vietnam.]

Asked about his 9/11 comments, he pointed out that most people had not heard the entire speech, and that he was actually quoting a U.S. ambassador. But he also quoted the Bible, saying you sow what you reap, and that Jesus said treat other people the way you want to be treated. "If you bring terrorism to the rest of the world, you can't expect it not to come back at you at some point," said Wright.

When asked about his motivation for speaking out now, Wright said that he had to speak out against people who were smearing his religious tradition.

You can watch the entire speech at CSpan.
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UPDATE: Mark Ambinder at theAtlantic.com has an interesting take on the Wright appearances. Wright has apparently decided to throw Obama "under the bus" so to speak, and the Obama campaign is of two minds about his speeches. On the one hand, they don't think Wright's speeches will rehabilitate his image for white Americans. But the more he talks, the easier it is for Obama to gain some separation from Wright.

" ... Wright's decision to publicly break up with Obama by essentializing him as a politician may well generate some distance between himself and Obama; perhaps the public may perceive the distance; the more outre Wright becomes, the easier it is for Obama to say -- look at what he says, and look at what I say. The campaign is also thankful that Wright decided to speak out now, rather than in, say, October."

African-American Scholar Links Obama, Wright to King

Author and social commentator Dr. Michael Eric Dyson presented a fascinating overview of the relationship between Sen. Barack Obama, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. Interviewed by host Bob Edwards on the Bob Edwards Weekend Show, Dyson said that we have to view both men in terms of the two periods in the life of Dr. King.

Obama is the pre-1965 King. The one the holiday is named for, said Dyson. The King who spoke of brotherhood and non-violence. The one who doesn't scare white people, who they could incorporate into their world view.

Wright is the post-'65 King. The one Americans know little about. The King who spoke out against the war in Vietnam. The King who said that most whites in America were racists. The King who spoke out against social and economic injustice in America. People remember that King was murdered in Memphis, Dyson says. But they often forget why he was there - not to promote equality, but to help lead a strike of garbage workers in the city.

Dyson said that people forget that when King gave his "seminal" anti-Vietnam speech on April 4, 1967 at New York's Riverside Church, he was condemned by many white - and even black - pundits and church leaders for "going too far."

But Dyson says that it's important to understand both men in order to understand the black experience in America.

More than 100,000 Votes Already Cast in N.C.

The Raleigh News and Observer reports that more than 100,000 people have voted in the North Carolina primary. The state has a one-stop early voting program that allows people to register and vote at the same time.

Meanwhile, the paper profiled voters in Wake County who went to the polls right after church on Sunday.

"Weekends are a time when people are available," said John Gilbert, chairman of the Wake elections board. "It's not like 40 years ago when we still had blue laws and nobody was open."
And it's not as if Sunday voting is a new idea, Gilbert said. Nations around the world have used Sundays for elections.

Last week, Sunday Soapbox looked at why we vote on Tuesdays. (It was a mid-19th century effort to give rural Americans a chance to vote.) Technically, people are supposed to get time off to vote, but this doesn't always happen. Is it time for elections to move to the weekends? Or should we go the Oregon route and allow people to move by mail?

Georgia Democrats Say Obama Campaign Gives Lift

Democrats in Georgia are saying that the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama will give them the best chance they've had in years to wage a competitive fight against Republicans in the southern state.

"We're seeing a lot of enthusiasm for our candidates that we haven't seen in past cycles," State Rep. Rob Teilhet (D-Smyrna), the man charged with leading candidate recruitment for House Democrats in Georgia, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He said Obama has already given the party a lift.

Boosting Democratic hopes is the fact that many Georgia Republicans are saying publicly and privately that they are concerned about Obama's influence on the November elections and about the impact their own very public infighting will have on their base.
All of this has likely made Teilhet's job easier than it would have been in past years. In 2006, the last time the 180 House seats were up for election, 129 races were uncontested, meaning there was only one candidate on the ballot. Of the remaining 51 races, only 10 were competitive, meaning the outcome was decided by about 10 percentage points.

While Teilhet declined to discuss specifics of the party's strategy, he said the party has identified 30 to 35 House districts that "are either competitive or may become competitive."

Unlike the past, when Republicans excelled at organizing, the Democrats are using "Vote Builder," a high-tech system of tracking registered voters, voter contact and demographic data that the party has lacked. The Obama campaign has helped add thousands of names to the system.

Republicans are more than aware of the problem. Ben Fry, executive director of the Georgia Republican Party, said he "won't let controversies over Obama's comments about Pennsylvania voters, or the controversy over his former pastor's rhetoric, lull him into thinking that an Obama bounce won't materialize."

Wright Gives Fiery, Unapologetic Speech to NAACP

Rev. Jeremiah Wright is not making any apologies for preaching the gospel in the way he things best. The Detroit News reports that he gave an "unapologetic" speech Sunday to an NAACP dinner. He was "alternately fiery and humorous as he defended the preaching that has taken center stage in the presidential campaign."

"I am not running for the Oval Office...I have been running for Jesus for a long, long time, and I'm not tired yet."

While Wright's remarks have been condemned by Republican politicians and pundits to Obama and his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, the minister got a rousing standing ovation at Sunday night's Detroit NAACP Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner before a crowd of nearly 10,000.

Before Wright spoke, a series of Detroit religious and civil rights leaders defended him against what they called unfair media attacks and praised his ministry. Wright is "a great champion of freedom," said the Rev. Kenneth Flowers of Greater New Mount Moriah Baptist Missionary Church and the head of the local NAACP's religious affairs council. Flowers compared Wright to biblical prophets and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as a man "who's not trying to please the establishment, but to please our God."

Here's some video from the speech:

You can find video of the entire speech here.

On Sunday morning, The Dallas Morning News reports that two different services of 4,000 worshippers each at Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas gave Wright standing ovations.

"We know better," said Rickey Hill, executive pastor at Friendship-West. "It's a tremendous blessing to have him here, especially after all the vilification."

April 27, 2008

In 2004, MacAuliffe Warned Michigan Not to Move Primary

Four years ago, Terry McAuliffe, top Clinton campaign aide, was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee -- the position now held by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. And he had a problem with Michigan. How do we know this? He wrote about it in his book "What a Party!: My Life Among Democrats: Presidents, Candidates, Donors, Activists, Alligators and Other Wild Animals"

As Mark Nickolas note in his blog "Political Base," Sen. Carl Levin told McAuliffe that he was going to take Michigan "outside the primary window." McAuliffe told Levin that ""I will not let you break this entire nominating process for one state. The rules are the rules." The story continues on page 325.

"If I allow you to do that, the whole system collapses," I said. "We will have chaos. I let you make your case to the DNC, and we voted unanimously and you lost."
He kept insisting that they were going to move up Michigan on their own, even though if they did that, they would lose half their delegates. By that point Carl and I were leaning toward each other over a table in the middle of the room, shouting and dropping the occasional expletive.

"You won't deny us seats at the convention," he said.

"Carl, take it to the bank," I said. "They will not get a credential. The closest they'll get to Boston will be watching it on television. I will not let you break this entire nominating process for one state. The rules are the rules. If you want to call my bluff, Carl, you go ahead and do it."

We glared at each other some more, but there was nothing much left to say. I was holding all the cards and Levin knew it.

MacAuliff'e position has changed. He's now in the position of Levin, arguing that despite breaking the rules, delegates from Michigan (and Florida) should be seated at the Democratic National Convention.
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UPDATE: The current DNC chairman, Howard Dean told "Meet the Press" on Sunday that the Florida and Michigan delegates should be seated, but he "signaled no intention to intervene in the dispute."

"They're very important states, but that doesn't mean they're more important than everybody else," Dean said.

Dean signaled that he will not try to influence the deliberations of the party's Rules & Bylaws Committee, which has scheduled a meeting for May 31 to discuss Michigan and Florida. Under consideration will be challenges from the two states, seeking reinstatement of half their elected delegates and full slates of superdelegates.

"I don't know what the solution is going to be. The rules committee is going to start working on that now," Dean said. "Nobody will be satisfied with the outcome because nobody is going to get everything they want."

Elizabeth Edwards Knocks Media's "Cliff Notes" Coverage

Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former Senator and presidential candidate John Edwards, thinks the media -- the mainstream media in particular -- spends too much time covering the rancor of the presidential campaign instead of the "the information about the candidates' priorities, policies and principles -- information that voters will need to choose the next president -- too often did not make the cut."

Writing in The New York Times, Edwards laments how little time the MSM spends actually talking about substance.

"The vigorous press that was deemed an essential part of democracy at our country's inception is now consigned to smaller venues, to the Internet and, in the mainstream media, to occasional articles. I am not suggesting that every journalist for a mainstream media outlet is neglecting his or her duties to the public. And I know that serious newspapers and magazines run analytical articles, and public television broadcasts longer, more probing segments.

"But I am saying that every analysis that is shortened, every corner that is cut, moves us further away from the truth until what is left is the Cliffs Notes of the news, or what I call strobe-light journalism, in which the outlines are accurate enough but we cannot really see the whole picture."

Edwards says it's easier to find, say, Barack Obama's bowling score that what former presidential candidate Joe Biden's health care policy was. She writes that while she was campaign with her husband, she saw the media gravitate towards narratives, like characters in a novel.

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