IOWA
PRESIDENTIAL WATCH
Iowa...
Where Presidents Begin
click
on each candidate to see today's news stories
(caricatures by
Linda Eddy)
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
GENERAL NEWS HEADLINES with excerpts
Edwards endorses Obama
At a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Wednesday evening,
John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama, who was on the stage with him, to be the Democratic nominee for president.Sounding a theme of a nation divided into parts by walls, Mr. Edwards said, “The reason I am here tonight is that Democratic voters in America have made their choice and so have I.”
Mr. Edwards then went on to say, “There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to tear down that wall and make one America, Barack Obama.”
Mr. Obama, who had introduced Mr. Edwards as “one of the great leaders we have in the Democratic Party, ” responded by saying he was grateful to him for coming to Michigan and giving his endorsement.
Mr. Obama also noted how Mr. Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth, had emphasized health care as an issue that is of primary concern, then said it would be a major issue in his administration.
The endorsement comes at a time when the appeal of Mr. Obama appears to be lagging among white, blue-collar voters, a group to which Mr. Edwards openly appealed.
Mr. Edwards’s endorsement also brings in tow 19 convention delegates he won in early party selections. He could certainly urge them to give their support to Mr. Obama, though they would not be obligated by party rules to do so.
West Virginia primary results: Clinton 67, Obama 26
Hillary wins - does anybody care?
SHE WON THE WEST VIRGINIA PRIMARY BY A KAZILLION PERCENTAGE POINTS TUESDAY NIGHT, AND THAT, SHE SAYS, HAS TO MEAN SOMETHING!
Except the press doesn’t think so. The press is unimpressed. This may be the first time in election history in which the press has withdrawn from a race before the candidate...
Mountain landslide for Hope-less Hill - W.Va. win is meaningless
When CNN flashed the exit polls showing Clinton shellacking Obama among "white voters without college degrees," her supporters here broke into wild cheers. But well before the polls closed last night, four more superdelegates came out in favor of Obama, widening even further his lead in delegates needed to clinch the party's presidential nod.
"This race, I believe, is over," said former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, who was among the party bigs who endorsed Obama yesterday.
Clinton's win brings little reward - delegates gained in West Virginia offset by Obama
Hillary Clinton trounced Barack Obama in West Virginia's Democratic presidential primary, as expected. But her negligible payback in convention delegates illustrates why her rival and her party are turning away from her candidacy to begin the fight against Republican John McCain.
W.V. exit polls: the race factor
one-third of whites citing race in vote would support Obama over McCain...
President Bush warns of Iraq disaster
President
Bush warned in an interview Tuesday that the Democratic presidential
candidates' plans to withdraw abruptly from Iraq could "eventually
lead to another attack on the United States" and would "embolden"
terrorists.
In a White House interview with Politico and Yahoo News — a president's first for an online audience — Bush said his doomsday scenario for a premature withdrawal “of course is that extremists throughout the Middle East would be emboldened, which would eventually lead to another attack on the United States."
THE CANDIDATES:
John McCain... today's headlines with excerpts
McCain backer Rev. Hagee regrets comments on Catholics
The Rev. John C. Hagee, whose anti-Catholic remarks created a controversy when Senator John McCain received his endorsement for the Republican presidential nomination with fanfare, has issued a letter expressing regret for “any comments that Catholics have found hurtful.”
Stumping on climate, McCain faults Bush
Senator John McCain intensified his criticism of President Bush and the administration’s environmental polices on Tuesday, taking a walk in the cold, rain-drenched foothills of the Cascade Mountains and asserting that in the effort to stem climate change, “America can lead and not obstruct.”
Hillary Clinton... today's headlines with excerpts
Paglia:
Hillary 'won't stop manic tarantella until party whirls into ruins'
I'm puzzled by the optimism of so many commentators and Democratic functionaries who are prophesying Hillary's graceful withdrawal by mid-June. Is there anything in the Clintons' tawdry history to support such a thesis?
Dana Milbank: "This is an ex-candidate"
It's Day 7 of the Clinton Campaign Death Watch -- a full week since the official arbiter of the Democratic primary, Tim Russert, declared the campaign over and Barack Obama the nominee...
Clinton woos party elders after W.V. landslide
“I want to send a message to everyone still making up their mind: I am in this race because I believe I am the strongest candidate to lead our party in November 2008 and the strongest president to lead our nation in January 2009,” Mrs. Clinton said, a statement aimed pointedly at superdelegates. “I can win this nomination if you decide I should.”
W.V. blowout bolsters Clinton's resolve
"I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard," she said, calling herself a stronger candidate in a general election and a better-prepared president...
Wolfson taunts Obama campaign after win in W.V.
Wolfson, Clinton’s communications director, said Tuesday: “I think superdelegates who have been moving toward Barack Obama in the last week are going to wake up tomorrow and say, ‘I’m a little concerned about the fact that our nominee, presumptive nominee, can’t win West Virginia. I’m a little concerned that he can’t win Pennsylvania or Ohio, or Michigan, or Florida.’”
Clinton victory does little to tighten the delegate race
Clinton's resounding victory in a state that has slipped away from Democrats in the past two elections added fresh ammunition to her claim that she is better positioned than Obama to capture critical swing states in November. But the primary win may have come too late to have a significant impact on the trajectory of a nomination battle in which Obama has an almost insurmountable lead in delegates.
Women, churchgoers fuel Clinton win in W.V.
High turnout among female voters and regular churchgoers, combined with widespread concern over the economy, propelled Hillary Rodham Clinton to her overwhelming West Virginia primary victory on Tuesday...
Clinton wins big in W.V., solidly defeating Obama
While the thorough drubbing in West Virginia will undoubtedly sting Obama, Clinton continues to trail him in pledged delegates and superdelegates, and her campaign continues to bleed money.
Women, churchgoers fuel Clinton win in W.V.
High turnout among female voters and regular churchgoers, combined with widespread concern over the economy, propelled Hillary Rodham Clinton to her overwhelming West Virginia primary victory on Tuesday...
W.V. Clinton fans want her to stay and fight
Exit polls showed that West Virginia Democrats responded, as 78 percent said Clinton should stay in the race...
Barack Obama... today's headlines with excerpts
Obama to receive endorsements of 3 former SEC chairmen
Three former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission will publicly endorse Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the presidency Wednesday, including one who served under President Bush.
William Donaldson, who was SEC chairman for about 2˝ years from early 2003, along with Clinton and Reagan appointees Arthur Levitt and David Ruder, will join former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker in endorsing Sen. Obama, his campaign said. Mr. Volcker endorsed Sen. Obama in January.
Obama defeat in W.V. amplifies race, rural problems
Barack Obama’s stinging defeat in West Virginia brings a sharp focus on the new coalition he may have to assemble to win the White House in November.
West Virginians rejected the presumptive Democratic nominee by a roughly two-to-one margin, one of the widest margins of the primary season. The outcome was the predictable result of familiar demographics: West Virginia’s relatively poor white voters have been Hillary Rodham Clinton’s base since February.
In a stark rejection of Obama in a state Bill Clinton carried in 1992 and 1996, almost half of the Democratic primary voters — typically the most partisan Democrats in a state — said they’d vote for Republican John McCain rather than Obama in November.
Obama may have his work cut-out for him to draw independents
Barack Obama can't rest should he soon win Democrats' presidential-nomination marathon. His next big challenge: to introduce himself to the independents who may well decide the November election, and dispel the doubts and misinformation that have taken hold among many.
A focus group of independent voters here Monday night suggested that the Illinois senator is largely identified by his association with his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., whose much-publicized sermons have been called racially divisive and anti-American. Yet Sen. Obama is also identified by many -- incorrectly -- as a Muslim, and suspect for that as well...
Almost-nominee status keeps Obama in limbo
... on the flight here from Washington on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Obama’s aides acknowledged that, in political terms, he is neither fish nor fowl, unable to go after Mr. McCain quite the way he would if he had the nomination clinched — lest he alienate Mrs. Clinton’s supporters by seeming presumptuous — and unable to fully dismiss her continued challenge.
Obama has to start from scratch in Michigan
Barack Obama unofficially kicks off his campaign against John McCain Wednesday in Michigan, a state the Democrats have barely held onto in recent years and where they start at a big disadvantage.
Because Sen. Obama, who appears close to wrapping up the Democratic nomination, didn't compete in the Michigan primary, he needs to build from scratch the kind of political operation he has been assembling for months in other states. He also faces a state party that is sharply polarized, behind schedule and hamstrung by an ill-timed lawsuit...
Obama aims to curb '527s'
Sen. Barack Obama's top fundraisers have asked his campaign donors to refrain from contributing to liberal independent political organizations in hopes of controlling the tone and message of the general-election campaign.
At a meeting in Indianapolis on May 2, members of the Democratic front-runner's finance committee made it clear Obama (Ill.) is worried that overtly negative advertising from outside organizations could undermine his themes of unity and hope.
"If people want to support our campaign, they should do it through our campaign," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.
Ralph Nader... today's headlines with excerpts
view more past news & headlines
paid for by the Iowa Presidential Watch PAC
P.O. Box 171, Webster City, IA 50595