Is Clinton's campaign beginning to falter?

Is Clinton's campaign beginning to falter?

WASHINGTON — The thing about clichés is that they're true. A week really is a long time in politics. It actually isn't over till it's over.

Two month ago, pundits and prognosticators, including this one, believed Hillary Clinton's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination was virtually unassailable.

She led her nearest rival by 30 percentage points in national polls. She was also ahead, though by narrower margins, in the opening states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

And she enjoyed substantial support among the elites within the Democratic Party and the leadership of labour, African-American and women's groups.

Barring cataclysm, it seemed impossible to imagine any of the other Democratic candidates overcoming such formidable obstacles.

Two months later, the New York senator remains favoured to win the nomination. The organization is still there; the endorsements continue to flow - including, over the weekend, the highly prized endorsement of the editorial board of the Des Moines Register. And she still leads her nearest rival by 20 percentage points in the national polls.

But there are cracks. Two Iowa congressmen have endorsed Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Oprah Winfrey delivered tens of thousands of supporters to events in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, where Mr. Obama gave some of his strongest speeches of the campaign.

In those crucial first states, Ms. Clinton's lead has vanished. She and Mr. Obama are essentially tied in the polls, and in Iowa former North Carolina senator John Edwards follows close behind.

I think Hilary is going to lose. Obama has a lot of support, specially a lot from Oprah, and i think that will be enough for him to be able to win. I think that come the elections, everyone is going to get tired of her.

Clinton made an elementary error on Obama

Clinton made an elementary error on Obama

It's one thing in politics to cite an opponent's record when criticizing him.

But it’s quite another to cite his Permanent Record—the legendary, indelible and largely mythical account of all that we do as schoolchildren.

Yet that’s just what the campaign of Democratic presidential contender Sen. Hillary Clinton did Sunday, issuing a spitball of a news release that alluded scornfully to an essay that primary opponent Sen. Barack Obama wrote when he was in kindergarten.

Referring to an old Associated Press story that quoted Obama’s former teacher, the release informed us that, “In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled ‘I Want to Become President.’”

The news release also noted that the Los Angeles Times has reported that Obama’s third 3rd-grade teacher recalls him writing “I Want To Be a President” in response to an assignment asking students to write an essay titled “My dream: What I want to be in the future.”

I called the Obama campaign’s Chicago headquarters on Monday: “I’m checking into rumors that your candidate used to write his R’s backwards,” I said. “Will you confirm or deny?”

Spokesman Ben LaBolt refused to go anywhere near the penmanship issue.

“All I’ll say is that we’re preparing for the charge that Obama flip-flopped when he decided in second 2nd grade that he wanted to be an astronaut,” LaBolt said.

Is there paste-eating in Obama’s past? Pigtail-pulling? The chewing of gum in school when he didn’t bring enough for everyone?

Clinton’s lucky that the late-night TV comics are on hiatus due to the writers’ strike, otherwise this blunder would launch a thousand jokes, each one portraying Clinton as desperate and ruthless as she tries to regain momentum in Iowa from the surging Obama.
[...]

But then came Team Clinton’s triumphant yet ill-advised and thoroughly absurd mention of Obama’s boyhood fantasies, and with it an “I’m rubber and you’re glue moment for Obama:

I may be ambitious, but at least I don’t dig for dirt in my opponents’ elementary school files.

[...]

But we also know an opportunity to crack wise when we see one: “I want to confess to all of you right now,” candidate John Edwards told reporters Monday in Waterloo. “In third 3rd grade, I wanted to be two things: I wanted to be a cowboy, and I wanted to be Superman.”

But did he ever play hooky? If he climbs in the polls, the Clinton campaign is going to want to know.

I think Hilary is stupid for doing that. She's desperate and needs a life. I'm not shocked that she went that low. So what if he wanted to be president when he was small?! She should worry about herself and stop doing stupid things.

This Time Around, Edwards Is Talking Tough

This Time Around, Edwards Is Talking Tough

(CBS) If you think of John Edwards as a sunny candidate with a positive tone, things have changed, CBS News correspondent Chip Reid reports. Listen to him on the campaign trail now, where he sounds like a man looking for a fight.

"Hell yeah I'm confrontational and I'm not ashamed of it," Edwards said. "We need a fighter in the White House."

In the Democratic debates, no one punches harder, especially when the target is front-runner Hillary Clinton, who accuses Edwards of throwing mud.

"She continues to defend a system that does not work, that is broken, that is rigged, and is corrupt," Edwards said.

[...]

Critics say he's changed from four years ago when he was known for his smiling disposition and his refusal to go negative. "If you are looking for the candidate that'll do the best job of attacking the other candidates, I'm not your guy," Edwards said then.

Now, Democratic rival Chris Dodd says: "I am surprised at just how angry John has become. This is not the same John Edwards I once knew."

But Democratic strategist Steve McMahon says that with Clinton and Barack Obama running so strong, Edwards has no choice but to turn up the heat.

[...]

In New Hampshire today, Edwards insisted his message is still positive. It's not anger, he says - it's passion.

"What voters want to see is that what you stand for, what you believe, comes from within here," he said, pointing to his heart, "that it doesn't come from just your head."

At first i didn't know who this guy was. Now i know who he is and how he acts. I like him. I think he would be a good candidate. I like him more than i like Hilary. I think he would do a better job at being president. I think it is interesting how he changed his attitude and the way he talks. He is showing that he will not be pushed around and he will put a fight.

Clinton lags behind top 5 GOP presidential rivals

Clinton lags behind top 5 GOP presidential rivals

US Democratic presidential forerunner Hillary Clinton lags behind all five top Republican rivals in general election match-ups, according to a poll released on Monday.

Clinton would lose a general election to Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, John McCain and Mike Huckabee by three to five percentage points in a head-to-head race, the survey by Zogby Interactive showed.

In July, Clinton held a five point lead in the same poll over Giuliani, edged out McCain by two points and had a clear lead over other contenders.

[...]

Clinton's top Democratic contenders, Barack Obama and John Edwards, still hold narrow leads over the Republican candidates in a hypothetical 2008 race, the survey showed.

"It all points to a very competitive general election at a time when many people think the Democrats are going to win the White House," Zogby said.

I am surprised and at the same time glad by these news. I don't think Hilary should win. I don't like her. I want Obama to win and the fact that she went down is good. I think she talks too much trash and she is not a very good candidate.

Obama discusses racial inequities

Obama discusses racial inequities

Obama, speaking to a racially mixed audience of about 500 people at a local high school, conceded some progress had been made on racial issues -- but not enough.

"On every measure, on income, on health care, on incarceration rates, on the criminal justice system, on housing, on life expectancy, on infant mortality, on almost every single indicator, there is still an enormous gap between black and white," the senator from Illinois said.

Obama said urban areas and minority communities often suffer first when problems spread across the nation. "There's an old saying that when America gets a cold, black America gets pneumonia," he said.

Iowa's first-in-the-nation status in the nomination process is often criticized because the state does not have the same level of diversity as the nation. It is 93 percent white, although the state capital where Obama spoke is 81 percent white.

Clinton, meanwhile, continued her theme of touting experience in challenging Obama and other Democratic rivals. Citing her tempestuous relationship with Republicans, she maintained she does not take GOP criticism personally.

"I believe I am by far the most electable Democrat, because I know exactly what I am getting into," she told about 300 people at a community center in the north-central Iowa community of Nevada.

"I think my political experience of having been on the receiving end of so much incoming fire over the years equips me for understanding you don't take this personally. You can't take it personally," she said.

The former first lady said Republicans are welcome to continue to try to make her a polarizing figure.

"I drive the Republicans crazy because they've spent hundreds of millions of dollars attacking and defaming me," she said. "I don't care. I mean, if that's how they want to spend their time and their money, let them do it. Ultimately, I trust the American people."

I chose this article because i thought it was interesting. I think it is weird that Obama went to Iowa to talk about the racial inequities. I thought it was surprising that there are still gaps.