82CardsGrad

Things are officially heating up now... I expect that when we get into the championship rounds, the Clinton machine will take command and prove too much for the upstart Obama...


Clinton camp fires back over column

By Mark Felsenthal 2 hours, 44 minutes ago


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Democratic rivals for president tore into each other on Saturday after a conservative columnist asserted front-runner Hillary Clinton claimed to have damaging information about Barack Obama.

The Clinton campaign denied the accusation, saying Obama's reaction to the vaguely worded column by Robert Novak played into Republican hands and showed the Illinois senator's lack of political savvy.
Obama's team later said they took the Clinton campaign at its word but bristled at the idea they fell for Republican tricks and should not have fought back against "smear politics" in the race for the presidency in the November 2008 election.

Clinton, a senator from New York and the wife of former President Bill Clinton, has been the target of frequent attacks by Obama and some of the other Democratic contenders for the White House over her ability to deliver straight answers.
Novak, a syndicated columnist, wrote: "Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it."
Novak did not specify the information or give more details about its source.

Obama, a first-term senator seeking to portray himself as an alternative to traditional Washington politics, seized on the article and said Clinton should either come forward with any information she has or repudiate Novak's column.
"She of all people, having complained so often about 'the politics of personal destruction,' should move quickly to either stand by or renounce these tactics," Obama said in his initial statement.
He called the column "a shameless item" aimed at smearing him through "innuendo and insinuation."
Clinton's camp quickly fired back.

"A Republican-leaning journalist runs a blind item designed to set Democrats against one another. Experienced Democrats see this for what it is. Others get distracted and thrown off their games," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said in a statement.
"We have no idea what Mr. Novak's item is about and reject it totally."

IOWA BATTLE LOOMS

The sharp exchange reflects the rising intensity of the campaign seven weeks before Iowa opens the state-by-state battle in each party to pick nominees to run for president.
Clinton leads Obama and former Sen. John Edwards in national polls. But in Iowa, the race is much closer.
At a debate among the Democratic hopefuls in Las Vegas on Thursday, Clinton -- seeking to rebound after what was seen as a lackluster performance in a prior debate -- unveiled a more aggressive tone, charging Edwards with "throwing mud."
The war of words was criticized as divisive by two of the other Democratic hopefuls, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden.


"Let's stop this mud-slinging," Richardson said during Thursday's debate.
Novak, the columnist, drew wide attention in 2003 with an article divulging the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife of a prominent critic of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Lewis Libby, a top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, was later found guilty of lying and obstructing the investigation into who blew Plame's cover.

Absolute Zero

It is a bit counterintuitive, but the more fake questions she plants, the more evasive she is, the more dirty tricks she pulls, the more she turns off the Iowa voters. Especially after 7 years of Bush.

As Iowa goes, so goes the Democratic nomination.

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82CardsGrad

That has hardly been the case over the last several elections... Why now?

KloD

I believe Kerry won in Iowa.

Linderbee

I thought it had been that way for quite awhile...the winner of the Iowa caucuses won the nomination.

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dreamcastrocks--My Hero!!

Absolute Zero

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/TheNo...3105455&page=1

November 19, 2007

Obama 30, Clinton 26, Edwards 22 -- that's where things stand in Iowa among likely caucus-goers according to a new ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Since ABC's July poll of Iowa Democrats, Hillary Clinton's support has remained unchanged while John Edwards has moved -4 and Barack Obama has moved +3 (both within sampling tolerances).

"A growing focus on fresh ideas coupled with lingering doubts about Hillary Clinton's honesty and forthrightness are keeping the Democratic presidential contest close in Iowa," writes ABC Polling Director Gary Langer.
Among those who say they're "absolutely certain" to attend a caucus, Obama has 28 percent with Clinton at 26 percent and Edwards at 23 percent.
According to Langer's analysis, Clinton has "a particular problem in Iowa with men" -- just 19 percent support versus her 31 percent support among women.
(Obama and Edwards both lead her among men, and Richardson is within sampling error).


Also problematic for Clinton: 55 percent of likely Democratic voters in Iowa say they're more interested in a "new direction and new ideas" than in strength and experience, compared with 49 percent in July -- a help to Obama, who holds a substantial lead among "new direction" voters.


Obama gets a chance to test drive his "new ideas" on Tuesday when he rolls out his pre-K through 12 education plan during an 8:30 am ET policy speech in Manchester, N.H.

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Absolute Zero

Kerry in 2004 was a surprise win in Iowa who went on to win the whole thing.

In 2008, a Barack win there could prove to be a slingshot that pulverizes Hillary's "aura of inevitability". That aura and her name recognition is the basis for her lead in the national polls. If Barack wins in Iowa, that is shattered and it would be extremely hard for her to recover in my humble view. The momentum would be tremendous.

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Absolute Zero

President Bush today stated that while HRC understands the pressures of the White House, she will win the nomination but lose the general election.

Obama spokesman Bill Burton's response:

“I can’t tell if he’s endorsing her, hoping she’s the nominee, or thanking her for her votes on Iraq and Iran.”

http://www.iowatrueblue.org/

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Divide Et Impera

Zing!



Now THAT'S funny!!!!!!!

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Quintus: People should know when they are conquered.

Maximus: Would you, Quintus? Would I?

Absolute Zero

Let's hope this Bill Burton fella is the next White House Press Secretary.

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Absolute Zero

December 3, 2007, 8:21 am The Early Word: Iowa Heat

By Kate Phillips and Ariel Alexovich

While the temperature in Iowa may have dipped into the teens over the weekend, things are getting pretty hot between the Democratic rivals and in fact, between the Republican rivals, too.
The campaign of Barack Obama today announced a direct counterpoint to criticisms by Senator Hillary Clinton and her campaign that seemed almost nonstop yesterday. (Read Patrick Healy’s posts from her appearances on Sunday.) Mr. Obama’s campaign has set up an entirely new Web site, “hillary attacks,” for its own rapid response. (The Clinton campaign has had its own “fact-checking” site up for a while.)
David Plouffe, the Obama campaign manager, wrote in a post:

Today we’re launching a website that will keep track of all the attacks Senator Clinton has launched since she said she wasn’t interested in attacking other Democrats at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner on November 10th. We’re asking all of you to be vigilant and notify us immediately of any attacks from Senator Clinton or her supporters as soon as you see them so that we can respond with the truth swiftly and forcefully.
This attacks could be phone calls, literature drops, blog posts mail pieces as well as radio and TV ads. Some could even be anonymous or designed to be. Please email us at hillaryattacks@barackobama.com the moment you see something that concerns you.

The Washington Post also puts the battle in the context of a new Iowa poll:

“There’s a big difference between our courage and our convictions, what we believe and what we’re willing to fight for,” Clinton told reporters here. She said voters in Iowa will have a choice “between someone who talks the talk, and somebody who’s walked the walk.”
Asked directly whether she intended to raise questions about Obama’s character, she replied: “It’s beginning to look a lot like that.”
The Obama campaign quickly fought back, and the candidate himself called the new effort a sign of desperation. A new Des Moines Register poll released Sunday finds Clinton three points behind Obama, within the poll’s margin of error, among likely Democratic caucus-goers.
“I think that folks from some of the other campaigns are reading the polls and starting to get stressed and issuing a whole range of outlandish accusations,” Obama said.

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