Politics

Clinton Undermining His Elder Statesman Standing

Bill Clinton’s ever increasing role in the presidential campaign has stirred much discussion. Has an ex-president ever taken so aggressive a part in his party’s nominating contest?

I Guess America Ferrera* Was Busy

Thanks to the Daily News for pointing out what really mattered about Elton John's fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton at Radio City Music Hall: what other celebs were on hand for the big event.
 

McCain Hesitant to Support GI Bill for Post-9/11 Vets

While Sen. John McCain is busy bolstering his friend-of-the-military image in the Middle East this week, Democratic Sen. Jim Webb is calling on the GOP presidential nominee to show similar troop support at home by endorsing a proposal to update the GI Bill, The Hill's Roxana Tiron reported today.

While 50 senators (including nine Republicans) have joined Webb in supporting the proposal, McCain has yet to do so, despite entreaties from Webb. Webb spokeswoman Kimberly Hunter said that having McCain on board would "bring more Republicans over to support the bill."

Michigan Democrats Staying Quiet On Primary Options

As Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D) made headlines Thursday for floating the possibility of a Democratic primary do-over, Michigan's Democrats are approaching the topic with similar gravity but lighter steps.

 

Both Michigan and Florida bumped their Democratic primaries forward this year, and both suffered the wrath of the Democratic National Committee, which stripped them of their nominating convention delegates. Nelson responded Thursday with a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean, asking that either Florida's delegates be reinstated or the national party fund another primary election. If neither request is met, Nelson warned, the Democrats would run a greater risk of losing the state in November's presidential race.

On GI Bill, Obama Hopes to Draw Distinction from McCain

As presidential hopeful Barack Obama shifts his focus from the primary contest to the general election, he's trumpeting his support for a congressional proposal to extend education benefits to post-9/11 vets -- and reminding voters that the likely GOP nominee, John McCain, opposes the same plan.

Bush Budget Largely Irrelevant In Lame-duck Year

Bush kicked off the 2009 budget debate with a $3.1 trillion spending wish list that calls for significant hikes in military funding while scaling back on health care, environmental and low-income assistance programs.

Influential Lewis Drops Clinton for Obama

As if things weren't going bad enough for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, Georgia Rep. John Lewis (D) has dropped his support for the former first lady and instead endorsed rival Barack Obama, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Wednesday.

Mail-In Vote to Cure Florida Primary Woes?

In the Wall Street Journal yesterday, Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D) proposed what he calls a "practical" way to resolve his state's Democratic primary mess: A revote featuring mail-in ballots.

Pelosi Thumbs China's Eye With Praise for the Dalai Lama

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) met the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India,, today, praising the Tibetan spiritual leader for his courage and leadership in the face of Beijing's crackdown on recent anti-China protests in Tibet.

If freedom loving people throughout the world do not speak out against China's oppression in Tibet we have lost all moral authority to speak on human rights anywhere in the world. The cause of Tibet is a challenge to the conscience of the world -- a challenge we can help meet...When we return home we will bring your message and try to meet the challenge to our conscience.

Poll: Clinton/Obama Slugfest a Boon for McCain

As Democratic presidential hopefuls Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama slug it out in the run-up to the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, newly released figures indicate that the drawn-out nature of the contest is harming both their chances in November (as Holly Yeager predicted earlier this month).

A Reuters/Zogby poll released Wednesday puts GOP nominee Sen. John McCain comfortably above both Democrats in a hypothetical national run-off, Reuters reported this morning. McCain leads Clinton by 8 percentage points (48 percent to 40 percent), according to the poll -- a slimmer margin than he held over Clinton last month, when the New York senator trailed McCain by 12 points.

For Obama, the tide is moving in the other direction. While the Illinois senator led McCain 47 percent to 40 percent in February, McCain now tops Obama by 6 percentage points (46 percent to 40 percent), the poll indicates.

Reassurer In Chief

In the face of figures revealing the economy's swirling somewhere near the pit of the latrine, President Bush took the podium yesterday to reassure Americans that their "uncertainty" is certainly temporary.

'We have a choice in this country'

The complete text of Sen. Barack Obama's speech on race in America.

(Some) Supers Stick With Clinton

Despite the widespread notion that the race for the Democratic nomination is over, 16 members of Congress penned a letter to their colleagues today urging them to support Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.). The letter highlights Clinton's argument that she is the most electable candidate in November because she has won more big rural states that, the argument goes, a Democrat must win to get to 270 in the electoral college. Here are highlights of the letter, which is available here.

A Bitter Race Ahead?

The general election could be where Obama's comments, tagged elitist by opponents, could really hurt him.

A Fitting Sacrifice

Since launching the invasion of Iraq five years ago, President George W. Bush has taken heat for placing an enormous bulk of the sacrifice on members of the U.S. armed forces, even as he's asked the rest of the country to shoulder virtually none of the burden. It seems those critics spoke too soon. In an interview with The Politico yesterday, Bush revealed that he gave up golfing in 2003 “in solidarity” with the military families whose sons and daughters were dying overseas.

From this morning’s Washington Post:

A Good Investment

If you'd run out in early February, when we told you about Topps presidential trading cards, and bought a pack, you'd be sitting pretty, no matter who wins Tuesday's primaries.

A House Divided

If Obama strikes back at Clinton's new negative tactics with his own, will the result be a damaged Democratic Party?

A National Media Product

CHICAGO -- Jeremiah Wright built a thriving church, but he's largely unknown in city politics.

A President in Denial

The economy had to be a major theme of President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address. In the weeks leading up to the speech, the message he's been repeating is, while there are “storm clouds” over the economy, “the fundamentals are strong.”

A Unique Approach to Rev. Wright

Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) is an African-American politician, a Methodist pastor and a Hillary Clinton supporter. So when he weighs in on the controversy surrounding Barack Obama's ties to his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, it's probably worth noting.

From an interview this afternoon with MS-NBCs Andrea Mitchell: