Weekend Report, April 26-27, 2008

Obama to Chris Wallace: no debates before May 6

Here is a brief excerpt of the interview with Chris Wallace:

Mr. Wallace: “Why are you ducking another debate with Senator Clinton?”

Mr. Obama: “I’m not ducking one. We’ve had 21. And so what we’ve said, we’re two weeks, two big states, we want to make sure we’re talking to as many folks possible on the ground taking questions from voters, you know we will -

Mr. Wallace: “No debates between now and Indiana?”

Mr. Obama “We’re not going to have debates between now and Indiana.”

Clinton's response: one-on-one debate, no moderators

“I’m offering Senator Obama a chance to debate me, one-on-one, no moderators,” she said. At the same time, her campaign released a letter from Maggie Williams, its manager, sent to David Plouffe, her counterpart at the Obama campaign, outlining its proposed terms.

“Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will participate in a 90-minute debate in an open public forum,” Mrs. Williams wrote. “Just the two of them — no questioners, no panelists, no video clips. One candidate would speak for two minutes, then the other, alternating back and forth all the way through the debate. Their discussion – not any pre-set rules – would determine how long they spend on one subject before moving on to another.”

Wright response at the wrong time?

Some Democrats say they doubt the current media blitz by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor, took his campaign by surprise.

... Many pundits say the timing couldn't be worse for Mr. Obama, who has had to distance himself from his 20-year relationship with Mr. Wright.

... But some Democrats say the rekindled attention is an effort to attract attention to Mr. Wright's controversial sermons now so that voters will have tired by it later, when the opposition raises the Wright issue in the general election.

The PBS Wright interview - why Bill Moyers?

Why did Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. grant his first interview to journalist Bill Moyers?

...  In the interest of full disclosure, Moyers also revealed that he too is a member of Wright’s denomination, the United Church of Christ.

More Wright yet to come this weekend...

Wright is scheduled to speak Sunday at a dinner organized by the Detroit branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, then again on Monday at the National Press Club in Washington.

McCain, GOP split on Wright ad

"The Republican Party of the state of North Carolina is dead wrong," he said on CBS' "The Early Show." "I'll do everything in my power to make sure not only they stop it, but that kind of leadership is rejected."

He railed about the decision again on NBC's "Today" program. "They're not listening to me because they're out of touch with reality and the Republican Party," he said. "This kind of campaigning is unacceptable. I have said that. It will harm the Republicans' cause."

McCain to raise big cash next week in Florida

McCain will spend much of early next week raising cash in Florida at big-ticket events.  He's got some of his top fund-raisers in the country there, including Al Hoffman, Ana Navarro and Brian Ballard. 

... The cash is being spread across a few accounts: McCain's campaign, his FEC compliance fund, the RNC Victory fund and the federal accounts that state parties in Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Mexico and Colorado have set up.

McCain frequently used wife's jet for little cost

...over a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain’s cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show.

Barack Obama... today's headlines with excerpts