Hillary Clinton makes tardy stop at Arlington high school

Hillary Clinton makes tardy stop at Arlington high school

The day after Hillary Clinton revealed she had loaned her campaign $5 million, the presidential candidate offered to pay the cost of running school buses past their normal hours after she was late for a rally at an Arlington County high school.

Students and other county residents had been sitting in the bleachers at Washington-Lee High School's gym for more than two hours Thursday before Clinton took the stage around 4:30 p.m.

"Hello Arlington," Clinton said before apologizing for her tardiness. "My schedule got a little out of balance."

A campaign spokesman didn't know why Clinton was late, but the school's principal warned the crowd the speech was going to be later than expected.

Clinton was "running a little late," Gregg Robertson told the crowd around 3 p.m. "All politicians run a little late. Let's just hope she's not as late as her husband used to be."

Around 3:45 p.m., Robertsonl took the stage again and announced the candidate was on her way, and the school would keep buses there until 5:30 p.m. so everyone could still get home.

"Hillary volunteered to pay for the buses," Robertson said. "I think that was nice."

The Clinton spokesman confirmed the campaign offered to pick up the tab for any extra expense the school incurred because of the late bus runs.

Despite the delay, Robertson said the school was excited to host the candidate because it was a chance for its students to be "on the front lines" of the election process.

On Monday, students at the University of Virginia will get a look at Clinton when the candidate serves as guest lecturer at a government class there, according to the spokesman. Clinton and her opponent for the Democratic nomination, Barack Obama, are scheduled to speak Saturday at a Jefferson-Jackson Day event in Richmond

I think it was irresponsible of her to be late for her speech. It was a nice thing for her to pay for the buses because she made the students wait. I have to admit i'd be excited myself if i got a chance to meet her.

Obama, Clinton Go for Black Vote in SC

Obama, Clinton Go for Black Vote in SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — In beauty shops, churches and living rooms, organizers for Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are in a fierce competition for the support of black voters in the upcoming first-in-the-South presidential primary.

Obama's campaign is counting on blacks who traditionally make up half of the Democratic primary voters here to deliver the state to him on Jan. 26, a victory that he hopes will help fuel momentum going into the "Mega Tuesday" voting in 22 states 10 days later. But he'll have to fend off Clinton, who comes with one of the most beloved political surnames in the black community.

The outreach is especially targeted at black women, who are reliable voters and who both campaigns recognize may feel loyalties to each candidate. And so far women have made the difference in the campaign — Obama won a majority of women in Iowa and took the state, while Clinton took most women and most votes overall in New Hampshire.

Juanita Edwards is one such voter. She came to see both candidates when they campaigned near her hometown of Simpsonville and still feels torn about which to vote for. Edwards said she's leaning toward Clinton because she likes that she had exposure to international affairs and health care during her time as first lady. But race and gender are on her mind too.

"I definitely respect the opportunity to vote for the first woman president and the first African-American president," she said. "If I have to lean toward one, I always lean toward a strong, intelligent woman."

In the early days of the primary race last year, Clinton had the advantage in polls here and she's won over many influential black leaders. But Obama has been able to turn that around, partly by establishing his credentials with the Iowa victory.

"What's important to a lot of African-Americans in general and certainly in South Carolina is that he's not a symbolic candidate," said David Bositis, an analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. "He's in it to win."

Obama has courted South Carolina voters through a labor-intensive effort aimed at black communities. He has a large campaign staff that tries to win over preachers and barbers who hold sway in the community, and those organizers also hold meetings with small groups of people — mostly women — in their homes.

The message has a different focus than it did in Iowa and New Hampshire, where almost all voters are white. It stresses Obama's civil rights work, his faith and the struggles he faced growing up, only to end up in Ivy League schools.

"Dream of a president who was raised like Barack was by a single mom who had to work and go to school and raise her kids and accept food stamps once in a while," the candidate's wife, Michelle Obama, said on a visit to the state in November. "Imagine a president who knows what that's like."

It's a story that Deborah Williams says she shares with the two sons that she's raised on her own.

"He's an example of somebody who was raised by a single parent and came out on top and still cares for somebody else," she said. "That's what I always tell my sons; you have to care for others and you have to get your education."

Williams, who came to the College of Charleston on Thursday to see Obama speak, said she will vote for him in the primary, even though at first she was backing Clinton.

"Initially I was supporting her because I must say I'm a Bill Clinton fan," said Williams, an elementary school teacher's assistant. "But then Barack came along and had all the things to say about change."

John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, endorsed Obama here on Thursday to send a message to South Carolina voters that Obama is not simply a candidate for blacks, but one who crosses the racial divide. It also could tell black voters who haven't been reassured by Obama's win in Iowa that he's a candidate who can be embraced by white America.

The Clintons have yet to announce a visit to South Carolina after her win in New Hampshire, and Obama advisers say they wonder whether she's going to campaign in the state. There's a theory that she could skip it, then argue that he was able to win because it was a predominantly black election.

Clinton adviser Minyon Moore said that won't happen. "It's her intention to be in South Carolina and work for every vote there," Moore said. "I can assure you that she's not abandoning South Carolina. There are trips being planned."

Asked how Obama was able to chip away at Clinton's lead among black voters, Moore pointed to a rally last month that drew nearly 30,000 to see the Illinois senator and his most famous friend. "He did have a lovely event with Oprah Winfrey, and we do credit him with that," she said.

Obama advisers say it's unlikely Oprah will make it back to campaign. But spouses of both candidates could help. Bill Clinton would be a powerful draw should the campaign decide to send him. Michelle Obama plans to campaign next week in Georgetown, S.C., her maternal grandfather's hometown.

I had never thought about how close this race might be. I always thought that the African American women would vote for Obama along with the males but now that i read this article i see that Clinton has a chance. I never thought that African females would support here but i can see that they might support her. A lot of women support her and i didn't think it'd make a difference but now that i read i see it does make a difference.

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.

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.