An amusing question and an historical answer at Sen. Barack Obama's town meeting in Boca Raton, Fla.The questioner asked, "You're about to achieve a truly wonderful, historic nomination, but we both know unless you, and we, win in November, it's going to be a footnote. So, my question is when the time comes, will you be willing to consider everybody who is a possible help to you as a running mate, even if his or her spouse is an occasional pain in the butt?"Obama first begged off the presumption that his nomination is a done deal -- "I don't want to jump the gun," he said -- but then he pivoted and jumped the gun a touch.
"I will tell you, though, that my goal is to have the best possible government, and that means me winning," Obama said, per ABC News' Sunlen Miller. "And so, I am very practical minded. I'm a practical-minded guy. And, you know, one of my heroes is Abraham Lincoln."Obama then referred to "a wonderful book written by Doris Kearns Goodwin called 'Team of Rivals,' in which [she] talked about [how] Lincoln basically pulled in all the people who had been running against him into his Cabinet because whatever, you know, personal feelings there were, the issue was, 'How can we get this country through this time of crisis?'"
Lincoln, FYI, appointed three of his rivals for the GOP presidential nomination to his cabinet -- three men who at the time loathed him.
William H. Seward became secretary of state, Salmon P. Chase became secretary of the treasury, and Edward Bates became attorney general. Another former rival, Edwin Stanton -- who once called Lincoln a "long armed ape" -- became secretary of war.
"That has to be the approach that one takes," Obama said, "whether it's vice president or cabinet, whoever. And by the way that does not exclude Republicans either. You know my attitude is that whoever is the best person for the job is the person I want. ... You know, if I really thought that John McCain was the absolute best person for the Department of the Homeland Security, I would put him in there."An audience member yelled out: "No!""No, I would, if I thought that he was the best," Obama said. "Now, I'm not saying I do. I'm just saying that's got to be the approach that you take because part of the change that I'm looking for is to make sure that we're reminded of what we have in common as Americans."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/05/obama-proposes.html
Sunday, June 8, 2008
A Test for Obama's Promises
One of the most appealing but untested promises of Barack Obama's presidential campaign is that he would break down the partisan divisions in America and govern across party lines. He has a chance to make this gauzy idea of consensus politics concrete in his choice of running mate.
By reaching outside the Democratic Party for his vice presidential nominee -- tapping Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, say, or independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg from New York -- Obama would in an instant demonstrate that he truly means to change the divisive, lose-lose politics of Washington. It would offer a unity government for a country that seems to want one.There are all sorts of practical arguments against such an unconventional choice -- not least that it would upset many of Obama's liberal Democratic supporters. But it would make a powerful statement that Obama really does want to govern in a different way. It would make "change we can believe in" more than a slogan.
By choosing a veteran politician outside his own party Obama would solve three problems at once: He would undercut the bipartisan appeal of his maverick GOP rival, Sen. John McCain; he would ease voters' fears about his own youth and inexperience; and he would find a compelling alternative to Hillary Clinton, who for all her virtues as a vice president would come with heavy baggage -- not least the role of her husband, who is even harder to imagine as Second Laddie than as First.
Moreover, Obama needs to counter the charge that he talks a better game about bipartisanship and change than he has actually delivered. His voting record in Illinois and Washington mostly has been that of a conventional liberal, and there are precious few examples of him taking political risks to work across party lines.
McCain, by contrast, has actually fought the kind of bipartisan battles that Obama talks about -- from campaign finance to climate change to rules against torture -- and he has the political scars to prove it. That's why the Republican base is still so uneasy about him, because they know that McCain's natural allies in recent years have been centrist Democrats. By picking a GOP running mate, Obama would outdo McCain -- and in the process make some enemies in his own party. That would make him a more appealing candidate, I suspect.
Hagel would be an especially interesting choice for Obama. As a decorated Vietnam veteran, he would add some national-security heft to the ticket. And he was also an early and courageous GOP critic of the Iraq War, which would reinforce one of the most powerful themes of Obama's campaign. At the same time, although Hagel agrees with Obama on the need for withdrawal from Iraq, his military credentials would reassure U.S. allies that it would not be a pell-mell retreat. A final advantage is that Hagel and Obama actually seem to like each other. Hagel is said to view Obama as a politician with a special gift who might actually be able to bring the country together. Whether Democrats could accept Hagel's pro-life views and other aspects of his Republican identity is a complicated question, but here again, bipartisanship is about bridging hard issues.
Bloomberg would provide a different sort of boost for Obama. He could run as the bipartisan manager and problem-solver, the nation's chief operating officer, if you will. That would free Obama, who has never managed much of anything, for the larger role of leadership -- the visionary politics at which he's so good.
The New York mayor would also make a good running mate for McCain -- who badly needs someone with economic credentials to offset his own lack of experience and interest in this area. But it would be difficult for the GOP to embrace a double dose of bipartisanship, when many in the party already view McCain as a quasi-Democrat.
If Obama were to run on a unity ticket, it would be a sign that he thinks the nation is in such serious trouble, at home and abroad, that the normal political rules don't apply. Obama could choose among many fine Democrats for his running mate, but none of them would send such a powerful message to America and the world that he means what he says about turning a page.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/obama_should_pick_a_bipartisan.html
By reaching outside the Democratic Party for his vice presidential nominee -- tapping Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, say, or independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg from New York -- Obama would in an instant demonstrate that he truly means to change the divisive, lose-lose politics of Washington. It would offer a unity government for a country that seems to want one.There are all sorts of practical arguments against such an unconventional choice -- not least that it would upset many of Obama's liberal Democratic supporters. But it would make a powerful statement that Obama really does want to govern in a different way. It would make "change we can believe in" more than a slogan.
By choosing a veteran politician outside his own party Obama would solve three problems at once: He would undercut the bipartisan appeal of his maverick GOP rival, Sen. John McCain; he would ease voters' fears about his own youth and inexperience; and he would find a compelling alternative to Hillary Clinton, who for all her virtues as a vice president would come with heavy baggage -- not least the role of her husband, who is even harder to imagine as Second Laddie than as First.
Moreover, Obama needs to counter the charge that he talks a better game about bipartisanship and change than he has actually delivered. His voting record in Illinois and Washington mostly has been that of a conventional liberal, and there are precious few examples of him taking political risks to work across party lines.
McCain, by contrast, has actually fought the kind of bipartisan battles that Obama talks about -- from campaign finance to climate change to rules against torture -- and he has the political scars to prove it. That's why the Republican base is still so uneasy about him, because they know that McCain's natural allies in recent years have been centrist Democrats. By picking a GOP running mate, Obama would outdo McCain -- and in the process make some enemies in his own party. That would make him a more appealing candidate, I suspect.
Hagel would be an especially interesting choice for Obama. As a decorated Vietnam veteran, he would add some national-security heft to the ticket. And he was also an early and courageous GOP critic of the Iraq War, which would reinforce one of the most powerful themes of Obama's campaign. At the same time, although Hagel agrees with Obama on the need for withdrawal from Iraq, his military credentials would reassure U.S. allies that it would not be a pell-mell retreat. A final advantage is that Hagel and Obama actually seem to like each other. Hagel is said to view Obama as a politician with a special gift who might actually be able to bring the country together. Whether Democrats could accept Hagel's pro-life views and other aspects of his Republican identity is a complicated question, but here again, bipartisanship is about bridging hard issues.
Bloomberg would provide a different sort of boost for Obama. He could run as the bipartisan manager and problem-solver, the nation's chief operating officer, if you will. That would free Obama, who has never managed much of anything, for the larger role of leadership -- the visionary politics at which he's so good.
The New York mayor would also make a good running mate for McCain -- who badly needs someone with economic credentials to offset his own lack of experience and interest in this area. But it would be difficult for the GOP to embrace a double dose of bipartisanship, when many in the party already view McCain as a quasi-Democrat.
If Obama were to run on a unity ticket, it would be a sign that he thinks the nation is in such serious trouble, at home and abroad, that the normal political rules don't apply. Obama could choose among many fine Democrats for his running mate, but none of them would send such a powerful message to America and the world that he means what he says about turning a page.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/obama_should_pick_a_bipartisan.html
Hagel laughs off but won't rule out joining an Obama tick
(CNN) – Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, who has been mentioned as a possible running mate for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, laughed off the possibility Tuesday in a CNN interview - but didn't rule it out, either."I don't expect to be on anyone's ticket this year. I don't expect to be in anyone's government next year," Hagel, who is retiring from the Senate this year, told John Roberts on CNN's American Morning.
But would he consider joining a bipartisan unity ticket with Obama? "I'm going to try and find some honest work," he said, adding that "If [Obama] asks, I'll let you know."
Hagel, a long-time friend and Senate ally of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, has not yet endorsed any presidential candidate.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/13/hagel-laughs-off-but-wont-rule-out-joining-an-obama-ticket/
But would he consider joining a bipartisan unity ticket with Obama? "I'm going to try and find some honest work," he said, adding that "If [Obama] asks, I'll let you know."
Hagel, a long-time friend and Senate ally of presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, has not yet endorsed any presidential candidate.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/13/hagel-laughs-off-but-wont-rule-out-joining-an-obama-ticket/
Obama Maps a Nationwide Push in G.O.P. Strongholds
WASHINGTON — Senator Barack Obama’s general election plan calls for broadening the electoral map by challenging Senator John McCain in typically Republican states — from North Carolina to Missouri to Montana — as Mr. Obama seeks to take advantage of voter turnout operations built in nearly 50 states in the long Democratic nomination battle, aides said.
On Monday, Mr. Obama will travel to North Carolina — a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 32 years — to start a two-week tour of speeches, town hall forums and other appearances intended to highlight differences with Mr. McCain on the economy.
From there, he heads to Missouri, which last voted for a Democrat in 1996. His first campaign swing after securing the Democratic presidential nomination last week was to Virginia, which last voted Democratic in 1964. With Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton now having formally bowed out of the race and thrown her backing to him, Mr. Obama wants to define the faltering economy as the paramount issue facing the country, a task probably made easier by ever-rising gasoline prices and the sharp rise in unemployment the government reported on Friday. Mr. McCain, by contrast, has been emphasizing national security more than any other issue and has made clear that he would like to fight the election primarily on that ground.
Mr. Obama has moved in recent days to transform his primary organization into a general election machine, hiring staff members, sending organizers into important states and preparing a television advertisement campaign to present his views and his biography to millions of Americans who followed the primaries from a distance.In one telling example, he is moving to hire Aaron Pickrell, the chief political strategist of Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio — who helped steer Mrs. Clinton to victory in that state’s primary — to run his effort against Mr. McCain there. In another, aides said, he has tapped Dan Carroll, an opposition researcher who gained fame digging up information on opponents’ records for Bill Clinton in 1992, to help gather information about Mr. McCain. That is the latest evidence that, for all the talk on both sides about a new kind of politics, the general election campaign is likely to be bloody.
Mr. Obama’s campaign is considering hiring Patti Solis Doyle, a longtime associate of Mrs. Clinton who was her campaign manager until a shake-up in February, the first of what Mr. Obama’s aides said would be a number of hires from the Clinton campaign.Recognizing the extent to which Republicans view Michelle Obama’s strong views and personality as a potential liability for her husband, Mr. Obama’s aides said they were preparing to bring aboard senior operatives from previous Democratic presidential campaigns to work with her, a clear departure from the typical way the spouse of a candidate is staffed. Mrs. Obama’s operation would include senior aides devoted to responding to attacks and challenges to her, particularly if she continues to campaign as much as she has so far.
To counter persistent rumors and mischaracterizations about his background, Mr. Obama’s advisers said they would also begin using television advertising and speeches in a biographical campaign to present his story on his terms. But they suggested that their research had found that voters were not that well acquainted with Mr. McCain, either, signaling that the next few months will see a scramble by the two campaigns to define the rival candidate.“Even though Senator McCain has been on the scene for three decades, there are a lot of people who don’t know a lot about him — and there are a lot of people who don’t know about us,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior strategist. “Both campaigns are about to begin filling in the gaps.”
Mr. Obama has sought in recent weeks to deal pre-emptively with issues that shadowed him in the primary and on which Mr. McCain has already challenged him. At a speech to Jewish leaders in Washington, he markedly toughened his statements about how he would deal with Iran after coming under attack for his pledge to meet with its leader; he now almost always wears an American flag pin on his lapel after Republicans sought to raise questions about his patriotism by pointing to the absence of one.
While the lengthy, contentious Democratic primary fight against Mrs. Clinton exposed vulnerabilities in Mr. Obama that the Republicans will no doubt seek to exploit, it also allowed him to build a nearly nationwide network of volunteers and professional organizers. While early assertions by presidential campaigns that they intend to expand the playing field are often little more than feints intended to force opponents to spend time and money defending states that they should have locked up, Mr. Obama’s fund-raising success gives his campaign more flexibility than most to play in more places. Mr. Obama’s aides said some states where they intend to campaign — like Georgia, Missouri, Montana and North Carolina — might ultimately be too red to turn blue. But the result of making an effort there could force Mr. McCain to spend money or send him to campaign in what should be safe ground, rather than using those resources in states like Ohio.
Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, said that the primary contest had left the campaign with strong get-out-the-vote operations in Republican states that were small enough that better-than-usual turnout could make a difference in the general election. Among those he pointed to was Alaska, which last voted for a Democrat in 1964.“Do we have to win any of those to get to 270?” Mr. Plouffe said, referring to the number of electoral votes needed to win the election. “No. Do we have reason to think we can be competitive there? Yes. Do we have organizations in those states to be competitive? Yes. This is where the primary was really helpful to us now.”
Mr. Plouffe also pointed to Oregon and Washington, states that have traditionally been competitive and where Mr. Obama defeated Mrs. Clinton, as places the campaign could have significant advantages .Still, the Republican Party has a history of out-hustling and out-organizing the Democratic Party in national elections. The question is whether the more organically grown game plans that carried Mr. Obama to victory in Democratic primaries and caucuses can match the well-oiled organizations Republicans have put together.
Mr. McCain’s advisers dismissed the Obama campaign claims as bluster. “We’re confident about our ability to win those states,” said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain.And Mr. Obama is not alone in trying to fight on what is historically unfriendly territory. A central part of Mr. McCain’s strategy is an effort to pick up Democratic voters unhappy with the outcome of the primary, and to compete for states that have recently voted Democratic, like Pennsylvania, where Mr. Obama was soundly beaten by Mrs. Clinton, and Michigan, where Mr. Obama did not compete in the primary.Mr. Obama’s aides would not say when he would begin his television advertising campaign, saying that disclosure would help their opponent.
A Republican strategist said that, according to party monitoring services, Mr. Obama’s campaign had inquired about advertising rates in 25 states, including traditionally Republican states like Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina. That would constitute a very large purchase. President Bush, whose 2004 campaign had the most expensive advertising drive in presidential history, usually ran commercials in a maximum of 17 states.The strategist said that the Republican intelligence was that Mr. Obama’s campaign was indicating to television stations that it was considering beginning its commercials in mid-June, or possibly after July 4.
But Mr. McCain started an advertising campaign on Friday that surprised Democrats with its size and expense — more than $3 million — and it was unclear if that would prompt Mr. Obama’s strategists to change their timetable. Media strategists in both parties said that Mr. Obama’s campaign would have enough money to run a break-all-records advertising campaign. In theory, at least, he will have enough money to run one set of prime-time national advertisements on broadcast television, and a concurrent and harder-hitting campaign against Mr. McCain in closely contested states.
A national campaign on broadcast television — which has traditionally been prohibitively expensive for presidential campaigns — could make sense in this case, particularly if the Obama campaign looks to expand the playing field as significantly as Mr. Plouffe suggested it would.Mr. Obama and a team of senior advisers spent Friday morning in Chicago planning the next few weeks. In addition to presenting his economic policies, Mr. Obama is also exploring a foreign trip and a biographical tour before the party’s convention in August.
Mr. Obama’s a 17-day economic tour, starting Monday, comes as polls suggest acute public anxiety about the economy, fueled by a new wave of bad news, including a surge in the unemployment rate and a record rise in the cost of oil.
The economic push is intended to highlight the distinctions between Democratic and Republican proposals on health care, jobs, energy prices, education and taxes. Mr. Obama is expected to deliver a series of policy speeches and visit voters in small towns and rural areas.
While Mr. Obama’s economic tour will take him through several states where he registered strong performances in the primary season, including Iowa and Wisconsin, he will also visit other general election battleground states where he lost primaries by substantial margins, including Ohio.At Mr. Obama’s campaign headquarters in Chicago, where for two months separate teams had focused on Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain, aides are adjusting their duties. One area in particular where Mr. Obama is adding muscle is a team that is tasked with tracking down rumors and erroneous statements circulated on the Internet.
“The growth of the Internet, which has been a fabulous asset for helping to build the Obama community, is also a place where erroneous e-mails live,” said Anita Dunn, a senior campaign adviser. “That’s a challenge I don’t think previous campaigns have had to deal with to the extent that the Obama campaign has.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/us/politics/08obama.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
On Monday, Mr. Obama will travel to North Carolina — a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 32 years — to start a two-week tour of speeches, town hall forums and other appearances intended to highlight differences with Mr. McCain on the economy.
From there, he heads to Missouri, which last voted for a Democrat in 1996. His first campaign swing after securing the Democratic presidential nomination last week was to Virginia, which last voted Democratic in 1964. With Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton now having formally bowed out of the race and thrown her backing to him, Mr. Obama wants to define the faltering economy as the paramount issue facing the country, a task probably made easier by ever-rising gasoline prices and the sharp rise in unemployment the government reported on Friday. Mr. McCain, by contrast, has been emphasizing national security more than any other issue and has made clear that he would like to fight the election primarily on that ground.
Mr. Obama has moved in recent days to transform his primary organization into a general election machine, hiring staff members, sending organizers into important states and preparing a television advertisement campaign to present his views and his biography to millions of Americans who followed the primaries from a distance.In one telling example, he is moving to hire Aaron Pickrell, the chief political strategist of Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio — who helped steer Mrs. Clinton to victory in that state’s primary — to run his effort against Mr. McCain there. In another, aides said, he has tapped Dan Carroll, an opposition researcher who gained fame digging up information on opponents’ records for Bill Clinton in 1992, to help gather information about Mr. McCain. That is the latest evidence that, for all the talk on both sides about a new kind of politics, the general election campaign is likely to be bloody.
Mr. Obama’s campaign is considering hiring Patti Solis Doyle, a longtime associate of Mrs. Clinton who was her campaign manager until a shake-up in February, the first of what Mr. Obama’s aides said would be a number of hires from the Clinton campaign.Recognizing the extent to which Republicans view Michelle Obama’s strong views and personality as a potential liability for her husband, Mr. Obama’s aides said they were preparing to bring aboard senior operatives from previous Democratic presidential campaigns to work with her, a clear departure from the typical way the spouse of a candidate is staffed. Mrs. Obama’s operation would include senior aides devoted to responding to attacks and challenges to her, particularly if she continues to campaign as much as she has so far.
To counter persistent rumors and mischaracterizations about his background, Mr. Obama’s advisers said they would also begin using television advertising and speeches in a biographical campaign to present his story on his terms. But they suggested that their research had found that voters were not that well acquainted with Mr. McCain, either, signaling that the next few months will see a scramble by the two campaigns to define the rival candidate.“Even though Senator McCain has been on the scene for three decades, there are a lot of people who don’t know a lot about him — and there are a lot of people who don’t know about us,” said David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior strategist. “Both campaigns are about to begin filling in the gaps.”
Mr. Obama has sought in recent weeks to deal pre-emptively with issues that shadowed him in the primary and on which Mr. McCain has already challenged him. At a speech to Jewish leaders in Washington, he markedly toughened his statements about how he would deal with Iran after coming under attack for his pledge to meet with its leader; he now almost always wears an American flag pin on his lapel after Republicans sought to raise questions about his patriotism by pointing to the absence of one.
While the lengthy, contentious Democratic primary fight against Mrs. Clinton exposed vulnerabilities in Mr. Obama that the Republicans will no doubt seek to exploit, it also allowed him to build a nearly nationwide network of volunteers and professional organizers. While early assertions by presidential campaigns that they intend to expand the playing field are often little more than feints intended to force opponents to spend time and money defending states that they should have locked up, Mr. Obama’s fund-raising success gives his campaign more flexibility than most to play in more places. Mr. Obama’s aides said some states where they intend to campaign — like Georgia, Missouri, Montana and North Carolina — might ultimately be too red to turn blue. But the result of making an effort there could force Mr. McCain to spend money or send him to campaign in what should be safe ground, rather than using those resources in states like Ohio.
Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe, said that the primary contest had left the campaign with strong get-out-the-vote operations in Republican states that were small enough that better-than-usual turnout could make a difference in the general election. Among those he pointed to was Alaska, which last voted for a Democrat in 1964.“Do we have to win any of those to get to 270?” Mr. Plouffe said, referring to the number of electoral votes needed to win the election. “No. Do we have reason to think we can be competitive there? Yes. Do we have organizations in those states to be competitive? Yes. This is where the primary was really helpful to us now.”
Mr. Plouffe also pointed to Oregon and Washington, states that have traditionally been competitive and where Mr. Obama defeated Mrs. Clinton, as places the campaign could have significant advantages .Still, the Republican Party has a history of out-hustling and out-organizing the Democratic Party in national elections. The question is whether the more organically grown game plans that carried Mr. Obama to victory in Democratic primaries and caucuses can match the well-oiled organizations Republicans have put together.
Mr. McCain’s advisers dismissed the Obama campaign claims as bluster. “We’re confident about our ability to win those states,” said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain.And Mr. Obama is not alone in trying to fight on what is historically unfriendly territory. A central part of Mr. McCain’s strategy is an effort to pick up Democratic voters unhappy with the outcome of the primary, and to compete for states that have recently voted Democratic, like Pennsylvania, where Mr. Obama was soundly beaten by Mrs. Clinton, and Michigan, where Mr. Obama did not compete in the primary.Mr. Obama’s aides would not say when he would begin his television advertising campaign, saying that disclosure would help their opponent.
A Republican strategist said that, according to party monitoring services, Mr. Obama’s campaign had inquired about advertising rates in 25 states, including traditionally Republican states like Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina. That would constitute a very large purchase. President Bush, whose 2004 campaign had the most expensive advertising drive in presidential history, usually ran commercials in a maximum of 17 states.The strategist said that the Republican intelligence was that Mr. Obama’s campaign was indicating to television stations that it was considering beginning its commercials in mid-June, or possibly after July 4.
But Mr. McCain started an advertising campaign on Friday that surprised Democrats with its size and expense — more than $3 million — and it was unclear if that would prompt Mr. Obama’s strategists to change their timetable. Media strategists in both parties said that Mr. Obama’s campaign would have enough money to run a break-all-records advertising campaign. In theory, at least, he will have enough money to run one set of prime-time national advertisements on broadcast television, and a concurrent and harder-hitting campaign against Mr. McCain in closely contested states.
A national campaign on broadcast television — which has traditionally been prohibitively expensive for presidential campaigns — could make sense in this case, particularly if the Obama campaign looks to expand the playing field as significantly as Mr. Plouffe suggested it would.Mr. Obama and a team of senior advisers spent Friday morning in Chicago planning the next few weeks. In addition to presenting his economic policies, Mr. Obama is also exploring a foreign trip and a biographical tour before the party’s convention in August.
Mr. Obama’s a 17-day economic tour, starting Monday, comes as polls suggest acute public anxiety about the economy, fueled by a new wave of bad news, including a surge in the unemployment rate and a record rise in the cost of oil.
The economic push is intended to highlight the distinctions between Democratic and Republican proposals on health care, jobs, energy prices, education and taxes. Mr. Obama is expected to deliver a series of policy speeches and visit voters in small towns and rural areas.
While Mr. Obama’s economic tour will take him through several states where he registered strong performances in the primary season, including Iowa and Wisconsin, he will also visit other general election battleground states where he lost primaries by substantial margins, including Ohio.At Mr. Obama’s campaign headquarters in Chicago, where for two months separate teams had focused on Mrs. Clinton and Mr. McCain, aides are adjusting their duties. One area in particular where Mr. Obama is adding muscle is a team that is tasked with tracking down rumors and erroneous statements circulated on the Internet.
“The growth of the Internet, which has been a fabulous asset for helping to build the Obama community, is also a place where erroneous e-mails live,” said Anita Dunn, a senior campaign adviser. “That’s a challenge I don’t think previous campaigns have had to deal with to the extent that the Obama campaign has.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/08/us/politics/08obama.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin
Time's Klein Dreams of Obama-Hagel Ticket
The same liberal Time writer that applauded Barack Obama's boycott of Fox News debates is now broadcasting his dream ticket in 2008: Obama for POTUS with Iraq war critic/potential Bush impeachment proponent proponent Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) as vice. Today at Time magazine's "Swampland" blog, Joe Klein wrote:
I've always had this sneaking suspicion that John Kerry asked the wrong Republican to join his ticket in 2004, that Chuck Hagel would have said yes, that a Kerry-Hagel ticket would have won. Now we have Hagel hinting at a 3rd party run. So, with apologies to, uh, Hegel:Thesis--That Chuck Hagel is a terrific national resource, a decorated veteran of Vietnam who has taken a courageous path away from his party on Iraq...and who really understands national security and foreign policy.Antithesis--That Third Party talk is futile, especially if you don't have a fortune like Perot's or Bloomie's, which Hagel doesn't.Synthesis--An Obama-Hagel ticket. (Or a pick-your-democrat -Hagel ticket)
http://newsbusters.org/node/12754
I've always had this sneaking suspicion that John Kerry asked the wrong Republican to join his ticket in 2004, that Chuck Hagel would have said yes, that a Kerry-Hagel ticket would have won. Now we have Hagel hinting at a 3rd party run. So, with apologies to, uh, Hegel:Thesis--That Chuck Hagel is a terrific national resource, a decorated veteran of Vietnam who has taken a courageous path away from his party on Iraq...and who really understands national security and foreign policy.Antithesis--That Third Party talk is futile, especially if you don't have a fortune like Perot's or Bloomie's, which Hagel doesn't.Synthesis--An Obama-Hagel ticket. (Or a pick-your-democrat -Hagel ticket)
http://newsbusters.org/node/12754
Chuck Hagel Slams Bush Administration's Iraq Policy: "Arrogance And Incompetence Put This Country In A Hole"
This isn't the first time Republican Senator Chuck Hagel has slammed the Bush administration on the Iraq war, but it is still noteworthy how blunt Hagel is in his criticism. Hagel appeared on CNN's Late Edition, with Wolf Blitzer, to promote his new book, and Blitzer asked him about some particularly harsh quotes about Bush administration's "arrogance and incompetence." Hagel responded that he stood by those words, and that it was the Bush administration's "arrogance and incompetence that put this country in such a hole here around the world.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/30/chuck-hagel-slams-bush-ad_n_94120.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/30/chuck-hagel-slams-bush-ad_n_94120.html
Obama Plans To Pick Republicans For Cabinet
AS Barack Obama enters the final stages of the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination, he is preparing to detach the core voters of John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, with the same ruthless determination with which he has peeled off Hillary Clinton's supporters.The scene is set for a tussle between the two candidates for the support of some of the sharpest and most independent minds in politics. Obama is hoping to appoint cross-party figures to his cabinet such as Chuck Hagel, the Republican senator for Nebraska and an opponent of the Iraq war, and Richard Lugar, leader of the Republicans on the Senate foreign relations committee.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/02/obama-plans-to-pick-repub_n_89438.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/02/obama-plans-to-pick-repub_n_89438.html
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