President Bush today signed into law today the G.I. Bill, which will double college benefits for troops and veterans, despite his earlier threats to veto the measure. The bill was attached to the $850 billion war supplemental that allocates and additional $650 billion for the war in Iraq and $200 billion for Afghanistan. Among those Bush …
Barack Obama
Bill and Barack Chat
Barack Obama and Bill Clinton chatted over the phone today, dispelling rumors that the former president has been reluctant in his endorsement of Obama. Clinton insiders explained his absence in New Hampshire, saying he wanted to give his wife, the candidate, the spotlight to do the unity event alone. The Obama campaign has said …
Obama Leads McCain, Slightly
TIME’s new poll out today shows Obama with a slight lead over McCain. The top line numbers are Obama 47% to McCain 43% with 8% undecided. The poll shows a significantly narrower race than Newsweek (Obama +15) or the L.A. Times/Bloomberg poll (Obama +12) or even the RealClearPolitics average, which has Obama +6.3. On the other hand, …
Obama and SCOTUS
Barack Obama had some interesting thoughts on two of the Supreme Court decisions this week that would seem to indicate he’s trending to the middle. First, the court decided that child rape was not a Capital Crime. Obama told reporters yesterday that his decision to oppose the ruling was an emotional one as he has two daughters around …
Obama’s Plan
Obama’s campaign manager David Plouffe spent a little over an hour briefing the Washington press corps at the DNC today. In a tone that could only be described as confident, Plouffe laid out their General Election strategy in a power point slide show. Here’s a brief summary:
1) Hold the states that Kerry won in 2004, which accounted …
Obama-the-Nominee
My story out today on Obama’s swing to the middle as the General Election starts. My sense is it’s probably best to get through much of this stuff now during the summer lull and still months away from November for both candidates.
Obama Asks Donors to Raise Money For Clinton
Barack Obama asked his finance committee this afternoon to help Senator Hillary Clinton retire her debt. On a conference call that lasted about 45 minutes Obama made a personal plea to his top donors, telling them he considered it a personal imperative now that Democrats are all “one big family,” a donor who was on the call recounted …
Pelosi On Clinton
At a Christian Science Monitor breakfast this morning Nancy Pelosi was asked about sexism in the Democratic primaries. The highest-ranking woman to ever win U.S. public office seemed a little taken aback. “Is there sexism? Probably so. Is it responsible for the defeat? I really wouldn’t have the scientific knowledge – all of the …
Lieberman’s Liberation
Story today on Lieberman’s slow separation from the Democratic Party.
One detail that didn’t make it into the story:
Anyone looking for a hint at where Joe Lieberman’s loyalties lies need go no further than the foyer to his Senate offices. There the Connecticut Independent has a proud display of photos of himself with U.S. …
Southern Fried Obama
Obama’s biggest push in the South will be in Georgia, as I write today, North Carolina and Virginia. It’s interesting because according to the Joint Center — a non-partisan group that tracks black voters — his best shots are the states where Kerry won more than a quarter of the white vote and therefore the base starts out already more …
Gore Endorses Obama
Not that this comes as a surprise, but read his endorsement here if your interested. And Gore will appear with Obama tonight in Michigan for those of you looking for something to watch on cable tv tonight.
Hillary for Veep?
In a move bound to reignite speculation that Hillary might be offered the vice presidential slot, the Obama campaign announced that none other than Patti Solis Doyle, Clinton’s former campaign manager, would be “chief of staff to the vice presidential nominee.” A complete list of other senior positions they announced today is after …
Johnson Steps Aside
The Obama campaign just put out this statement:
“Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept. We have a very good selection process underway, and I am confident that it will produce a number of
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