IowaPolitics.com BlogWatch

From the earliest days of the campaign, the race for the 2008
Democratic presidential nomination has been a hard fought,
neck-and-neck struggle. But now, as the race enters its final stretch,
it has become increasingly obvious that the eventual outcome is no
longer in doubt. With a difficult general election looming, Democrats
need to put our family squabbles aside and unite behind the eventual
nominee. And so, in the interest of Party unity, and his own health, I
am calling on Senator Obama to gracefully accept defeat. First, let me
congratulate Senator Obama and his staff for running a tough campaign.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

West Virginia votes today in the first of what may reasonably be
called the Footnote Primaries of the Democratic nomination process.
Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that the voters of West Virginia,
Kentucky, Oregon, Montana, South Dakota and Puerto Rico don't matter,
or that the outcomes in these primaries will not be important; far
from it. But the importance of these primaries now lies not in their
potential to determine the party's nominee - that question was
(finally) settled in Barack Obama's favor last week by North Carolina
and Indiana - but rather in shaping the end of the campaign and taking
a big role in determining the conditions under which the Democratic
Party begins its general election campaign.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

The audience in King's Chapel on the campus of Cornell College in
Mount Vernon seemed to hold its collective breath Thursday night as
George Stephanopoulos gave voice to words about the Democratic
presidential nomination process that most in the nation have been
impatiently waiting to hear: "The race is over." The same quiet
audience emitted whoops of joy a few minutes later when Stephanopoulos
said that Iowa's position as the first-in-the-nation caucus state
would continue. "I want to tell you that I do think this race -- the
Democratic race -- is over," Stephanopoulos said. "Tuesday night was a
decisive tipping point. Mathematically it is simply not possible for
Sen. [Hillary Rodham] Clinton to catch Sen. [Barack] Obama in the
elected delegates."

Labels: Barack_Obama, caucus dates, Hillary_Clinton

Barack Obama won a decisive victory in North Carolina by slightly less
than 230,000 votes last night and Hillary Clinton has won in Indiana
by slightly more than 22,000 votes, so where does it leave things? If
the statements of the candidates count for anything, it looks like
more of the same all the way to the convention. The sad thing is that
there is no legitimate way for either candidate to win the nomination
outright without the influence of the superdelegates who may be more
likely to use "electability" as determined by polling to affect their
decision-making. As a John Edwards supporter, we learned first hand
that electability as measured by polls is hardly reliable.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

With a whopping 46 contests behind us, Senator Obama is now a mere 276
delegates away from securing the Democratic nomination. Tonight, as
the polls close, we will hear candidates, campaign staff, surrogates,
newspeople, pundits, and so on, ask (and answer) all sorts of
questions. There is, however, only one serious question today: Can
HRC make serious inroads in the delegate race? Possibly, she can. HRC
clearly has the support of the political establishment in both IN and
NC. In the Hoosier State, Senator Bayh -- scion of IN's most powerful
political family -- has been by her side at every stop. Same in North
Carolina, where Governor Easley has campaigned extremely hard for her.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

I'm sitting here blogging from my favorite Des Moines, Iowa
breakfast/free wi fi place, The Gateway Market. I ran into a couple of
good friends of mine, Ross and Amy Daniels, who are Obama supporters.
I reminded them that Obama people need to quit being so negative
against Sen. Hillary Clinton and start showing some respect. When I
"confronted" him, Ross was speechless. He had that smug "but, but,
we're right and she's wrong" look that many Obamicans have. Amy looked
at me sheepishly and said, "I plan to be a party girl." Good for her.
Here's the deal, Democrats. We're all on the same train together.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

"The headline out of Iowa is going to be 'Obama gains one,'" I told my
fellow delegates during casual conversations in the hours of down time
at Saturday's 2nd Congressional District Democratic convention. So
when I finally got home, and could access the national political blogs
that for some reason the Mount Vernon School District's wireless
network had blocked, what did I read? "Obama loses one." It's the
latest example of national political writers just not understanding
Iowa's caucus and convention process. On Thursday, I published a
comprehensive look at the math that showed Obama taking 15 delegates,
Clinton winning nine, and Edwards definitely getting two, with three
delegates still in play, and one more delegate possibly shifting
pending deals between candidates.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton, IDP

Attendance, Tactics Will Shape Results… They say half the game is just
showing up, and that's true for Iowa's Democratic congressional
district conventions. The other half may be tactical politics, as
supporters of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama try to deny the other
campaign any advantage. The most important factors in determining how
many national delegates Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and, yes,
former candidate John Edwards get on Saturday will be which campaign
does the best job of getting its share of the 2,500 delegates to
travel to the conventions, and who can quietly cut the best deals. A
district-by-district review of the delegate totals shows that three of
the 29 national delegate seats to be elected Saturday are up for
grabs.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton, IDP

I hear the constant refrain from the Clinton and Obama campaigns that
John McCain can't be allowed to win, because that will be just 4 more
years of the Bush Administration. It's not an implausible argument,
given that McCain has started to repudiate some of his past views on
taxes, for example. However … this is focusing purely on political
issues. Now, I'm not downplaying the importance of issues, since for
many people, such things as Supreme Court appointments, tax policy,
Iraq, and so on are key points. But I can't escape feeling that on a
procedural level, the candidate who would represent 4 more years of
the Bush Administration is ... Hillary Clinton. How can I say that?
Let me explain.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton, John_McCain

Shell and Pea Game Takes Eyes Off Prize... Here are some thoughts to
ponder as we await this evening's results from Pennsylvania where the
polls will close at 8:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. CT. Up to now the focus has
been on whether Senator Obama or Senator Clinton has the most "pledged
delegates" -- plus those "super-delegates" leaning in their favor (or
publicly committed to them). Some talk about the popular vote totals
of each. Occasionally there's mention of how many states each has won.
(These numbers change from day to day, but so far Obama wins the
trifecta. He has about 150 more delegates, 700,000 more popular votes,
and roughly 27 to her 14 states.)

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

Where did Hillary's inevitable coronation become a donnybrook? Her
stately campaign-march to Denver an anything-goes Mad Max
fender-bender? Her unquestioned entitlement an increasingly impossible
slog through Obama lands? It's Iowa.... Iowa.... as in "Where did the
tables turn?" where Roger Simon of Politico autopsies Hillary
Clinton's presidential campaign. As Simon dissects the remains of
Hillary's once unassailable nomination, he names the main cause of the
demise of her White House hopes, "Iowa is where Clinton needed to
strangle the Barack Obama campaign in its crib."

Labels: Barack_Obama, caucus, Hillary_Clinton

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Barack Obama pulling with six points
of Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania with Clinton losing support among
women. A surprise win puts the race away from Obama. There are those
that argue that it is already impossible for Hillary to win the race.
I believe she is staying in because either 1) she has an internal
strategy to win that her people are NOT sharing with the press. 2) she
believes that there are unreported controversies still out there that
will derail Obama. What internal strategy? The Clinton campaign won't
say and they certainly are not telling the press.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

Lots of Siouxlanders had fond memories of seeing Democratic
prsidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the Sioux City Art Center on
Jan. 1. Art center director Al Harris-Fernandez, on the other hand,
had a bill he was trying for weeks to collect from the appearance.
Clinton appeared before an estimated 700 people on New Year's Day,
trying to nab more supporters before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. The
cost for the venue was $3,400 - $2,400 for the typical rental fee,
plus $1,000 more because Clinton's event ran long. Her Sioux City
campaign office closed shortly after the caucuses, so Harris-Fernandez
left phone messages and sent faxes trying to get payment.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

The two Democratic candidates still fighting for their party's
presidential nomination have sent email messages to supporters in
Iowa. The subject? This coming Saturday's county conventions. The
dynamic here is that delegates are to be elected at these shindigs,
and the Clinton camp would dearly like to be able to pick up a few
delegates here and there around Iowa's 99 counties. (Follow the link
and find Newsweek article in which Clinton is quoted talking about how
already "pledged" delegates may not be, well, pledged.) Compare and
contrast the two email messages from the campaigns after the jump. The
Obama campaign sent out an email on Friday afternoon, March 7, 2008,
with a link directing supporters to Obama's still functioning Iowa
campaign website which contains very detailed information about the
county conventions.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

Someday, Iowans may look back on the election returns from March 4, 2008, and remember that as the day the caucuses died. It's as if at each step of the way, at each opportunity for Barack Obama to clinch the nomination, Democrats are saying," no, we want more time, we want everyone to have their say." The price of peace in this dead-heat battle may be comprehensive nomination reform. The living room meet-and-greets of Iowa tradition may vanish, replaced by tarmac rallies at the Des Moines Airport. The Obama-Clinton fight may go down as the Florida 2000 of nomination politics, with the margin of victory smaller than the margin of error.

Labels: Barack_Obama, caucus, Hillary_Clinton

Obama admits American decline is his foreign policy objective; Hillary starts a trade war... The Drama of Obama literally just said that it was his goal to change
foreign policy to reflect an America that didn't think it was better
than other countries. While refreshingly candid, it is most
disconcerting that a man who could become President of the United
States denies the concept of American exceptionalism as a both an
ideological and factual premise of our relationship with the rest of
the world. Even more frightening, the crowd went wild. Not to be
outdone, Hillary then said that she would take a "trade time out", and
said it in the context of stopping American international trade to
"evaluate what works".

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

One of the many reasons I supported John Edwards was that I thought he would expand the map for Democrats in the general election. I thought he would hold all of the Kerry states, adding Iowa and Ohio with ease, and would make things competitive in several other places too (like Missouri). I think Clinton or Obama could beat McCain or lose to him. Clinton's winning scenario is obvious: turn out record numbers of women and Latinos, rack up a big lead among seniors, thereby holding most if not all of the Kerry states and adding Florida and/or Ohio. ... Obama's winning electoral vote scenario is less certain for me. Although nationwide polls show him doing slightly better against McCain than Clinton, he runs behind Clinton against McCain in several key states

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton, John_McCain

The Presidential candidates have long since left town, but at least one person (or at least her campaign) forgot to take care of something. She apparently didn't pay her bills. We're hearing Hillary Clinton has been a little tardy in that area. Top Job Services, a cleaning company in West Des Moines, said the campaign stiffed him for $7561 (that includes service and late fees) for cleaning both Clinton campaign offices in Des Moines over three months. ... The campaign called Reese again Monday and said the check had been mailed. Reese told us he never had any similar problems with Chris Dodd's campaign. In fact, he told us he cleaned Dodd's office, as well as the home the Dodds rented in Des Moines. Dodd's campaign paid him promptly, he said. He added that whenever he went to the Dodds' temporary home t0 clean, Jackie Dodd always had a check on a counter waiting for him.

Labels: Chris_Dodd, Hillary_Clinton

Senator Tom Harkin talked with Iowa reporters by phone this morning. Here's the roughly two-and-a-half minute mp3/audio file of his commentary on the Clinton campaign. Here Harkin is transcribed: "Well, I agree with our chairman Howard Dean. I sure hope this gets settled before we go to convention. That'd be very late. That'd be at the end of August. We've never had anything that late before we've had a candidate. So I don't know, I think, you know, looking at Super Tuesday, things came out pretty even. Now, again, I'm not a real expert in this but just listening to the pundits and sort of reading what I can on it it looks as though the calendar for this month favors Obama."

Labels: Hillary_Clinton, Tom_Harkin

It appears delegate counting is a new pastime in America these days. Iowa Democrats, like their counterparts in other state parties, have a group of so-called "super" delegates to their party's national convention who get to cast their votes in Denver. How will those 11 folks vote? Governor Chet Culver is at the top of the list of super delegates from Iowa. He confirmed during a recent appearance on Iowa Public Television that he was being lobbied by both the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama camps, but he is not ready to announce a preference. Culver's wife, Mari, endorsed John Edwards in December at a rally in Des Moines. Senator Tom Harkin is a super delegate. Harkin stayed out of the endorsement game before Iowa's 2008 Caucuses and has not indicated a preference between Clinton or Obama at this point.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Chet_Culver, Hillary_Clinton, IDP

... an Iowa City member of the Democratic rules committee that unseated (Florida's) delegates told Iowa Independent that Hillary Clinton's recent comments on Florida are "not helpful" to the process. Sarah Swisher, first vice chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, serves on the Democratic National Committee's rules committee. ... "It's not helpful when you have candidates express themselves in direct conflict to rulings by the DNC," said Swisher. "It's helpful for those participating in the nomination process to adhere to the rules of the party." "We didn't see any letters of support for Florida months ago," said Swisher.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Hillary Clinton is in a quandary when it comes to beating back a
fierce challenge from Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential
nomination. The talk of political activists has been the nasty,
personal tone of the recent campaign exchange between Clinton and
Obama -- as they bitterly battle over truth and consistency. The
exchange ultimately damages Clinton more than Obama in the upcoming
general election. First, Hillary's style is beginning to evoke
memories of the "burn the villages and salt the fields" campaigning
style of the Clinton machine of the 90s. With the voters demanding
change, and frustrated over what they feel is a unresponsive
government, I am doubtful voters will want to go "back to the future"
with another dose of a Clinton-Clinton White House.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

Anyone heard Hillary Clinton complaining about the caucus process
since she, maybe, won Nevada? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Maybe
process matters less than result -- or location. The relative
bumpiness of the first-ever Nevada caucuses, where the candidates
can't even agree on who won, makes a counter-intuitive good case for
Iowa's process and first place. The neighborhood meeting process is
part of what's important about Iowa, sure. But what's more important
is the nature of Iowa: established, rooted, and civically engaged. The
political upside of our slow growth is an electorate which knows its
way around the block.

Labels: caucus, Hillary_Clinton

A day after former and current South Dakota U.S. Sens. Tim Johnson and
Tom Daschle endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama, and after
today's endorsement of Obama by John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic Party
presidential candidate, and the dropout from the race by Bill
Richardson, for the second consecutive day I'm more interested in a
political conversation with a Northwest Iowan. A Democrat was still
trying - as I am - to piece together how Hillary Clinton was able to
catch lightning in a bottle and win the New Hampshire primary two days
ago. Her all-but-certain second place finish was detailed in polls,
but there Clinton was at the end of the day, with a 39-37 percent
victory over Obama.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

Hillary Clinton has been fighting a silent battle throughout this
entire presidential primary. So far, the fact that she is female has
been behind most of the attacks on her character and appearance. Even
Clinton's handlers disagreed among themselves as to how she should
portray herself to her supporters and the media. I can think of
several times at which her femaleness was thrust front and center. The
question about whether she prefers diamonds or pearls at a debate. The
story about Clinton's cleavage showing on the Senate floor. The story
of her choking up in New Hampshire.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Hillary Clinton ran the campaign she should have run in Iowa. Less scripted, more questions, shorter, less wonky speeches. Taking more chances -- beceuse she HAD to. If she had run that campaign here, she might not have won (there's still substantive stuff like the refusal to apologize for the war vote) but she could have been a strong second. The "tears" thing was probably as calculated as the stage-managed Iowa campaign; notice that even in the middle of it she managed to get the "experience" message out. But whether it was real or not, it had some truthiness to it. She proved that she could do the retail thing -- at least for a long weekend.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Despite death rattles on the blogosphere, Hillary Clinton's campaign rolls on after a stunning comeback in New Hampshire over Barack Obama. Despite trailing in the polls by 9%, team Clinton showed why they are still the campaign to beat. With 99% of the precincts counted, it was Clinton 39%, Obama 37%, Edwards 17%, Richardson 5%, and Kucinich 1%. As predicted, the storyline is now Clinton is comeback kid II. Said Clinton, "I want, especially, to thank New Hampshire. Over the last week, I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice. I felt like we all spoke from our hearts and I am so gratified that you responded. Now together, let's give America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me."

Labels: Hillary_Clinton, John_McCain

Hillary's continual attacks on Iowa and the Caucus process in the wake of her crushing defeat show how really shallow and supercilious is her campaign. For the better part of 16 years we watched the Clinton's preposterous lies and distortions fly, usually without much critique from the poodles of truth in the national media ("I didn't inhale"; "I never had sex with that woman, not one single time"; "Serbia threatened the United States", etc...). On Thursday night Evita blamed the absence of people in Iraq for her loss as if the public thinks she was popular with guys and gals in uniform). Yesterday, it was the disenfranchisement of night shift workers that deprived Hill of her inevitable victory in the Iowa Caucus, which concedes our theory about her lineal descent from Vlad Tepes and the Draculesti but hardly explains a nine point Caucus loss.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Hillary Clinton wrapped up a New Year's Day of Iowa campaigning with a
rally for about 500 in downtown Iowa City. It's 9:20 and if I'm gonna
pay 10 bucks for a connection I'm gonna liveblog. The staffer is
stretching for time with a Hillary trivia contest. The downstairs
Sheraton ballroom is full with about 500. I'm attempting to start a
rumor that the rally is being moved outside to the Ped Mall, but no
one's biting. The TURN UP THE HEAT signs are welcome on this cold
night. Are Iowans spoiled by all this attention?

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

...and anyone asks me how she did it, I will point them to this recent
article in the New York Times. Yes, Hillary's got a lot of advantages:
she raised a ton of money, she's hired a huge Iowa staff
(approximately 400 people), she's got a former two-term governor and
former two-term president campaigning for her. But there are smart
ways and dumb ways to spend money. Reading this article, I was
impressed with some of her campaign's tactics. We Iowans joke about
how there's always a presidential candidate willing to pour us coffee,
take out the trash and shovel our snow. But Hillary's precinct
captains really are going to shovel snow for her supporters.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

We already know Rudy Giuliani likely won't be in Iowa caucus night. In
fact, according to his schedule he's already done with the Hawkeye
State. Anything to do with his ever-declining poll numbers here? But
what about Hillary Clinton? Her Midwest Co-Chair, Jerry Crawford, told
me she would not be here caucus night. He said she needs to get to New
Hampshire. But a campaign spokesman, Mark Daley, told me he thought
she would be here that night. What's the story? Sunday morning, I had
the rare chance to sit down with her to ask for myself.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

As January 3rd approaches, the campaign becomes quite simply about turn-out. Experienced campaign advisers try to cover all the bases...that's why Hillary's campaign is breaking out the shovels. Mrs. Clinton's office here is filled with hundreds of new green snow shovels that were being strategically distributed on Saturday to precinct captains to clear the walks of older women who might be particularly wary of going out to the caucuses in bad weather. The campaign has printed doorknob hangers with caucus locations printed in extra-large type, also to accommodate these older first-time caucusers.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

... volunteers from across the nation are telling Iowans to scoot over and make room. The campaign for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson sent an email to supporters, announcing the influx of "Richardson Roadrunners" in the state. According to the email, hundreds of volunteers left New Mexico Wednesday morning in order to volunteer for the campaign in the final sprint to caucus night. New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign announced "Hill's Angels," individuals who will travel to communities the day prior to the candidate's arrival to meet with supporters and volunteers.

Labels: Bill_Richardson, Hillary_Clinton

Hillary Clinton offered the long and short version of her closing
argument to two separate crowds in Coralville Monday night, and told
one questioner that years of attacks by Republican Hillary Haters are
the very reason she's the strongest Democratic candidate. Clinton is
taking a mellower tone in her late campaign. Though AFSCME's "Turn Up
The Heat" signs from the November Jefferson Jackson Dinner were on
hand, the phrase did not appear in the speech. The speech is lower
key, with a slower, steadier pace, no by-name attacks on the other
Democrats, and relatively little partisan raw meat.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

With University of Iowa finals starting this week, it doesn't seem like students in Iowa City will get a face to face chance to ask Hillary Clinton about her campaign's contention that maybe they shouldn't be caucusing if their parents live in Schaumburg. But the lack of a campus event seems to fit a Clinton campaign pattern for the People's Republic of Johnson County. Saturday, the Clinton campaign announced their first Johnson County visit in two months: a 7:30 p.m. Monday stop in Coralville. That's the Monday night of finals week. Last weekend, she held events in two neighboring small counties, Iowa and Washington... without an Iowa City event.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton, University of Iowa

Oh, yeah. This is familiar territory. The Obama-mania in Des Moines is
palpable. Everyone is asking everyone, "Who are you for?" Every time I
tell someone "I'm for Hillary," they screw up their brow and smile and
tilt their head and say, "really? I figured you'd be for Obama."
Technically, I am "for" any democrat who can restore our country's
good standing in the world and solve a myriad of problems that have
been created by George W. Bush's limited understanding of playing in
the world's sandbox. But yes, I am "for" Hillary even though she is
not the flavor of the month. I've seen this kind of hype before.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

... One student at Grinnell College, where over 80% of the student body is not from Iowa, received a phone call from Clinton's campaign Sunday. The caller invited the student, a registered Iowa voter who is from Minnesota, to attend Monday's 5:15PM event on campus with the former president. The student, who it should be noted is not a Clinton supporter, sent along this email: " The Clinton campaign called me today and invited me to the Bill [Clinton] event. They also asked who I was planning to caucus for and if I'd ever caucused before. So I decided to call them back and asked if they even wanted me to caucus. I said, "I'm a Grinnell College student but I'm from Minnesota. Does Hillary Clinton want my vote?" And the woman said, "That's a complicated issue, hold on a minute." So she put me on hold for about two minutes, then said, "I'm going to have our youth coordinator get back to you." And she took my name and number. I'm still waiting for them to tell me whether I'm worthy of caucusing for Hillary Clinton."

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Hillary Clinton have all released caucus training videos for the Iowa Caucuses. Obama has also released a Nevada Caucus training video. Each video has its strengths and weaknesses, and here I'm going to use my subjective rating system and rate each of the three videos in four categories, Creativity, New Media Savvy, Effectiveness and how informative is it. One video, in my opinion, stood out as being the best by far - read below to see which one it was.

Labels: Barack_Obama, caucus, Hillary_Clinton, John_Edwards

Democrat Hillary Clinton is bashing President Bush's plan to address
the mortgage crisis, calling it "so meager as to barely register." "It
is designed to help as few people as possible," Clinton told Iowa
reporters in a conference call Thursday. She said Bush's plan for a
five-year freeze on rising mortgage rates allows lenders to decide if
a homeowner gets a rate freeze or will pay a substantially higher
rate. "The president should know that this case-by-case approach does
not work. It's resulted in only 1 percent of sub-prime loans being
modified this year," Clinton said.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Today, President Clinton complained about Hillary's press coverage.
Apparently, Bill thinks we'd all find Hill a more attractive
Presidential option if we just discussed her experience and
accomplishments more than we talked about the horse race. This
criticique presents an interesting and paradoxical challenge to the
media. What are Hillary's accomplishments? The only public program
with which Hillary was ever known to be involved was the
preposterously conceived and politically bungled 1993-1994 socialized
healthcare plan.

Labels: Bill_Clinton, Hillary_Clinton

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is baring her "fangs." That wasn't
somebody's insult. It was the approving reaction from one of her fans
as the Democratic presidential front-runner ripped into rival Sen.
Barack Obama's character for the second-straight day - this time
accusing him of dodging positions on politically-sensitive issues. "A
President can't pick and choose which challenges he or she will face,"
Clinton told her supporters at the legendary Surf Ballroom in Clear
Lake -- site of Buddy Holly's last concert before a fatal plane crash
in February 1959.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

With exactly one month left until the Iowa precinct caucuses, there will be virtually no more quiet days on the campaign trail. In Clear Lake, Iowa, where the sidewalks are covered in sheets of thick ice, folks are awaiting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's rally inside the famed Surf Ballroom -- the place where Buddy Holly and friends played their final gig before a tragic plane crash on Feb. 2, 1959. In separate appearances in Iowa on Sunday, Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama stepped up their war of words, and that could flare again. But today, Clinton's main goal is to rally supporters, encourage them to drag their buddies to the caucuses on Jan. 3, 2008, and keep spreading their word that the ideosycratic caucus system is "easy" for first-time participants.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

Iowans were surprised today when former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail in Muscatine, Iowa and endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for the coveted political nod: "The person I'd most likely want to go into a blizzard of adversaries until the last dog died." Dog-fighting adversaries, still reeling from the high-profile Michael Vick conviction, took note of Bill Clinton's liberal use of dog-fighting metaphors and vowed to ramp up the anybody-but-Hillary voting contingency.

Labels: Bill_Clinton, Hillary_Clinton

In Democratic politics, former President Bill Clinton can be like a blinding light. Whether you consider him brilliant or not, when he's on stage he has a tendency to obscure those standing around him. That includes his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. That could be one reason why he's mostly campaigning solo these days. On Tuesday, he sang his wife's praises at small town stops in eastern Iowa, the more Democrat-friendly half of the state where Sen. Clinton has pinned her hopes of winning a tight, three-way battle with Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards.

Labels: Bill_Clinton, Hillary_Clinton

... Clinton needs a Caucus 101 program more than some of her rivals because, more and more, it appears she is counting on first-time caucus-goers. Polls are showing that Clinton, not Gen-X phenom Barack Obama, is doing best among 18-29 year old potential caucusers (particularly young women). ... The funniest part of the Clinton video is about 1:35 in when they show an orderly school gym with about 50 people (carefully selected for diversity) and actual room to move around, even for the two people in wheelchairs. (One would be tokenism, two is a demographic.) Take that crowd, in a room that size, and multiply it by about eight or ten, and you'll get a more realistic picture. ... The deepest, darkest secret in the political universe is the vote total from the Iowa Democratic caucuses. It's never reported, it doesn't even exist. The only thing reported on caucus night is delegate numbers.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

... After calling Hillary's local office a couple of times to ask for clarification of instructions, I started by questioning myself and my husband, Jim. Then I moved on to my neighbors, both near and further away. I was absolutely amazed by how many Democrats are still undecided on a candidate to support. More than a few could not even tell me which way they were leaning. When I asked voters to list the number one issue determining who they were going to caucus for and/or vote for, more than a few struggled to narrow the issues to just one.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Monday, November 19, 2007 might be remembered as the day that sunk
Evita's Presidential hopes. While a long and winding road remains yet
to be traveled the last few weeks have taken a heavy toll on the
concept of Evita's inevitability. Hillary's first problem is the
intra-mural contest. The latest ABC shows Hillary trailing Obama in
Iowa for the first time. Then news releases showed Hillary trailing
Rudy, Mitt and Fred in Florida, a key bell weather for the Democrats
long term hope of retaining the White House. The two breaking polls
yesterday then lead the media pundits to return to a discussion of
other key states, like Ohio, where Evita either trails or is tied with
the leading Republican candidates.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

The campaign for New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is announcing
endorsements from two eastern Iowa lawmakers today. Rep. Todd Taylor,
House District 34, and Sen. Rob Hogg, Senate District 19, were both
rumored to be leaning Clinton after each was given the opportunity to
announce the presidential candidate during recent campaign stops in
Cedar Rapids. "I am convinced Hillary Clinton is ready to lead our
country and restore America's standing in the world," Hogg said. "Her
energy and climate plan would create thousands of new green jobs in
Iowa, protector our environment and break our dependence on foreign
oil."

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

I've got to agree with David Sirota here: Hillary Clinton Thinks
Iowans Are Stupid. Four days after voting for a trade agreement with
Peru, Hillary tells a United Auto Workers conference that "she'll call
a 'time out' on trade agreements if she wins the White House to see if
the deals are draining jobs from the U.S." She also campaigned today
in Waterloo, a city that has lost a lot of good manufacturing jobs.
Will people fall for this?

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Labels: Barack_Obama, Bill_Richardson, Chet_Culver, Chris_Dodd, Hillary_Clinton, IDP, Joe_Biden, John_Edwards, Tom_Harkin

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's white paper on energy and the looming
climate crisis was a long time coming, but at least one Iowa
environmental activist believes it was worth the wait. "I thought the
speech was great," said Mike Carberry, a regional field director for
Iowa Global Warming, after listening to Clinton's remarks on Monday.
"She pretty much covered the questions that we ask the presidential
candidates on all different levels of renewable energy and on global
warming reduction." Carberry, who has attended events for nearly all
the presidential candidates and focuses on their energy and climate
change policies, said it was important for Clinton to come out on this
issue.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Democrat Hillary Clinton had scathing words Tuesday for President
Bush, who has threatened to veto the 2007 farm bill. "President Bush
is waging a $300 million a day war in Iraq and has presided over the
largest fiscal deterioration in our nation's history, yet he's chosen
to draw the line for fiscal discipline at the feet of our hard working
farmers," Clinton said in a statement released by her campaign. "The
2007 Farm Bill contains vital investments in a safety net for farmers,
conservation, renewable energy, nutrition, and rural development that
will help sustain our rural communities and ensure that America's food
supply is abundant, safe and healthy."

Labels: agriculture, Hillary_Clinton

When the Iowa Democratic Party started selling tickets to its 2008 Jefferson Jackson Dinner, the state party's largest fundraiser -- and candidate cattle call -- of the year, it kicked off something of an arms race between the three top Democratic candidates for president. ... Now, campaigns have to find ways to actually fill all of the seats they bought, and it may be trickier than it sounds. Getting over 1,500 signed supporters to Des Moines next Saturday will be a struggle for any candidate, and I don't envy the people in charge of crowd-building for it. ... In an email obtained last night, Clinton's Political Director for the Midwest, Sean Johnson, asks out-of-staters to come to Iowa for a "day of action," which will include a canvass during the day and -- perhaps more importantly -- a chance to waive signs and look good on camera at the Jefferson Jackson Dinner.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

A poll released Monday by the University of Iowa shows Republican Mitt
Romney growing his sizable lead among the Republican presidential
field and a close competition between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
on the Democratic side. The poll shows Romney with support of 36.2
percent of likely GOP caucus-goers, followed by Rudy Giuliani at a
distant second place with 13.1 percent. Mike Huckabee is in third
place at 12.8 percent, a jump from August when he registered under 2
percent. Fred Thompson takes fourth place with 11.4 percent, followed
by John McCain at 6 percent. Romney spokesman Tim Albrecht attributed
the high poll numbers to Romney's visits to the state, saying his
message is resonating. But the campaign expects the race to tighten
before the caucuses.

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton, Mitt_Romney, polling

Tonight, I attended Senator Hillary Clinton's lecture here on the
campus of Iowa State University in Ames, IA. The event, held in the
very beautiful Stephen's Auditorium, was not necessarily a typical
Hillary campaign event, but it was instead more of an annual event
celebrating women's achievement and leadership especially in politics.
My good friend Stephanie Lichter, the very impressive Chair of the ISU
College Republicans, accompanied me to the event tonight. When you go
to Hillary events, it's always good to bring a buddy... haha. The
Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics awards an annual
Mary Louise Smith Chairmanship for the year and Senator Clinton was
named this year's honorary chair. The Carrie Chapman Catt Center for
Women and Politics has hosted every woman that has ever run for
President going back to Senator Elizabeth Dole.

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Iowans who've been listening to the radio and watching television have
been receiving the advertising messages of the presidential candidates
for months. It appears the candidates are starting to increase their
direct mail to likely Iowa Caucus-goers. Last weekend, New York
Senator Hillary Clinton sent out a letter explaining her vote on the
resolution which declared Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist
organization. Now, Illinois Senator Barack Obama is sending many of
the same people a little something in the mail. It's a piece
(featuring two photos of Obama) that directly confronts Clinton over
than Iran resolution. Here is what it says: "While others went along,
Obama opposed Bush's war plans..."

Labels: Barack_Obama, Hillary_Clinton

This morning's USA Today broke new ground for a Gannet publication; a
front page story about Democrat corruption. It appears that New York
Senator's Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton earmarked some one million
dollars of your income tax money for a museum on the site of Woodstock
concert. The museum is owned by a private corporation. The
corporation, in turn, is owned by a Republican named Alan Gerry. While
I dig rock 'n' roll music, particularly the Woodstock album (own it in
vinyl, CD and video), I'm not sure that giving tax money to help a
billionaire build a museum to the show is the best use of tax dollars.
Think of the help a million dollar grant could do for some small start
up business somewhere or the amount of AIDS vaccines for sub Saharan
Africa that could have been purchased with that money?

Labels: Hillary_Clinton

Iowans are by and large straight-forward people. Given that, it should
come as no surprise that to the average Iowan, the Michigan ballot
situation seems pretty cut and dry: Democratic presidential hopefuls
who honor their four-state pledge and support the nomination calendar
won't be on Wolverine State's ballot. As with most things in life, and
especially politics, the situation is more complicated. Five
individuals connected to five different campaigns have confirmed --
but only under condition of anonymity