IOWA
PRESIDENTIAL WATCH
Iowa...
Where Presidents Begin
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on each candidate to see today's news stories
(caricatures by
Linda Eddy)
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2008
GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts
Wisconsin primary is
today
Obama, Clinton in dead heat in Texas
A new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll suggests the battle for the
Democratic presidential nomination between Sens. Hillary Clinton of
New York and Barack Obama of Illinois is a statistical dead heat in
Texas, which holds primaries March 4.
In the survey, out Monday, 50 percent of likely Democratic primary
voters support Clinton as their choice for the party's nominee, with
48 percent backing Obama.
Dems divided over Florida, Michigan delegates
seating
the battle rages over the DNC ruling not to seat
Florida's and Michigan's delegates...
THE CANDIDATES:
Mike Huckabee... today's headlines with excerpts
Huckabee: "I may be killing my
political career"
"People ask me, 'Are you doing this for your future and
your career?'" a worked-up Mike Huckabee said to a crowd
of about 400 college students in the Green Bay area.
"Look, I may be killing my political career," he said.
"But I know this, if we don't start thinking about
solving America's problems, we're killing all your
careers that are standing here today as students, and
that's unacceptable."
Huckabee driving hard in Wisconsin
The man trying to slow Sen. John McCain's march to the
Republican presidential nomination left the campaign
trail Friday for Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands to
give a paid speech Saturday to a young leaders group.
Huckabee, despite his brief break, has hit the trail harder in
Wisconsin than McCain, whose delegate lead is huge.
Huckabee supporters aren't slowing
down in Texas
About a dozen Huckabee
backers on Monday stood midway between the Capitol and
the Governor's Mansion — one of four such events in the
state — to remind voters that despite the political
arithmetic, the race for the Republican nomination isn't
over...
Huckabee not concerned with Bush
41 endorsement of McCain
Former President George H.W. Bush may have endorsed John
McCain, but Mike Huckabee is not flinching.
"Believe me, everybody likes endorsements," Huckabee
said to the crowd of about 150 who had braved the
windblown terrains of central Wisconsin to see him. "But
this isn't about endorsements, this is about
principles."
Huckabee wins W. Virginia GOP
convention - gains 18 delegates
Mike Huckabee won 18 delegates
Tuesday as backers of rival John McCain threw him their
support to prevent Mitt Romney from capturing the
winner-take-all GOP state convention vote.
John McCain... today's headlines
with excerpts
Clinton backers may find an
alternative named McCain
Far from the pumped-up Obama rallies, centrists who
voted for John Kerry last time now say they are
considering John McCain — especially if the Democrat is
the vaporous Obama...
McCain still short of nomination
The rules vary state to state. But in general, Romney has little
authority over his delegates after he releases them. The vast majority
haven't been named. Once they are, most will be free agents at the
convention, free to support whomever they choose.
Huckabee has said he won't quit until somebody reaches 1,191
delegates. And a few more Huckabee victories in upcoming primaries
could prove embarrassing for McCain.
George H.W. Bush gives McCain a
strong endorsement
The endorsement marked another turning point in the complex, evolving
relationship between Senator McCain, of Arizona, and the Bush family.
Ron Paul... today's headlines with excerpts
Hillary Clinton... today's
headlines with excerpts
Obama's wave stuns Clinton's black
supporters
Hillary Clinton's black supporters -- especially the
most prominent ones -- hadn't expected their candidate
to be in a dogfight right now. They thought Barack Obama
was an election cycle or two away from being serious
presidential timber. They thought Bill Clinton's
presidency and the close relationships the Clintons had
forged with African Americans would translate into goo-gobs
of votes in '08. They were wrong.
Remember all the commentator chatter last summer: Is Barack Obama
black enough?
Well, he's black enough now.
Obama says Hillary using HIS
phrases
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson accused Obama of plagiarizing
Patrick, and that's particularly troubling since Obama's appeal is
based in large part on his rhetorical skills.
"Now hold on a second. Let's see - I've written two books, wrote most
of my speeches," Obama told reporters at a news conference after
touring a titanium plant.
"I'm happy to give Deval credit, as I give credit to a lot people for
spurring all kinds of ideas," he said. "But I think that it is fair to
say that everything that we've been doing in generating excitement and
the interest that people have in the election is based on the core
belief in me that we need change in America."
Asked whether he wished he would have given him credit given the
criticism he's facing, Obama responded: "I was on the stump, and he
had suggested that we use these lines. I thought they were good lines.
I'm sure I should have - didn't this time."
"I really don't think this is too big of a deal," he said. He said
he's noticed Clinton using his phrases sometimes, like "it's time to
turn the page" and "fired up, ready to go."
see also:
Clinton in war of words with Obama
Politico's Roger Simon:
Hillary targets pledged delegates
Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign intends to go
after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the
caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the
nomination.
This strategy was confirmed to me by a high-ranking Clinton official
on Monday. And I am not talking about superdelegates, those 795 party
big shots who are not pledged to anybody. I am talking about getting
pledged delegates to switch sides.
What? Isn’t that impossible? A pledged delegate is pledged to a
particular candidate and cannot switch, right?
Wrong.
Pledged delegates are not really pledged at all, not even on the first
ballot. This has been an open secret in the party for years, but it
has never really mattered because there has almost always been a clear
victor by the time the convention convened.
But not this time. This time, one candidate may enter the convention
leading by just a few pledged delegates, and those delegates may find
themselves being promised the sun, moon and stars to switch sides.
Barack Obama... today's headlines with excerpts
Clinton aide accuses Obama of
plagarism
Howard Wolfson, the Clinton campaign's communications
director, accused Barack Obama of committing
“plagiarism” in a speech in Milwaukee on Saturday night.
.... Obama closely echoed a passage from a speech that
Deval Patrick, now the Massachusetts governor, used at a
campaign rally when he was running for that office in
2006.
The Clinton campaign circulated a pair of YouTube links
of the two speeches on Sunday.
see also:
Obama says Clinton using HIS phrases
Hillary's struggle vexes feminists
As Hillary Clinton struggles to regain her momentum in
the presidential race, frustrated feminists are looking
at what they see as the ultimate glass ceiling: A female
candidate with a hyper-substantive career is now
threatened with losing the nomination to a man whose
charismatic style and powerful rhetoric are trumping her
decades of experience.
UPDATE:
ClevelandLeader posts story...
WorldNetDaily.com: posts story of
supposed Obama gay/cocaine liaison
When his story was ignored by the news media, Larry Sinclair made his
case last month in a
YouTube video, which has now been viewed more than a quarter-million
times. And when it was still ignored by the media, Sinclair filed
a suit in Minnesota
District
Court, alleging threats and
intimidation by Obama's staff.
Sinclair, who says he is willing to submit to a polygraph test to
validate his claims, will now get his chance –
thanks to a website offering
$10,000 for the right to record it and $100,000 to Sinclair if he
passes.
"My motivation for making this public is my desire for a presidential
candidate to be honest," Sinclair told WND by telephone. "I didn't
want the sex thing to come out. But I think it is important for the
candidate to be honest about his drug use as late as 1999."
(and Hawaii for Dems only)
“His
character was forged in the crucible of war,” Mr. Bush said. “His
commitment to America is beyond any doubt. But most importantly, he
has the right values and experience to guide our nation forward at
this historic moment.”
The
electrifying
presidential
campaign of
Barack Obama faces a new challenge – a Minnesota man who
claims he took cocaine in 1999 with the then-Illinois
legislator and participated in homosexual acts with him.
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