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April 27, 2008 - May 3, 2008
May 03, 2008
Tar Heel News
from Fox News
May 3rd, 2008 1:01 AM Eastern
Running On Fumes, Clinton Goes For Carolina Comeback
by Aaron Bruns
RALEIGH, NC — Hillary Clinton wrapped up a grueling day at the end of a grueling week on the campaign trail with a free-wheeling mini-rally at the state fairgrounds — giving the crowd some hope that she’d be able to pull off what her state director has called “the upset of the century” in North Carolina on Tuesday.
“Three weeks ago we were 39 points behind, and those were the best polls,” she said. “We’ve made some progress, we have a long way to go just to get within the ballpark.”
She faces distinct demographic disadvantages in the Tar Heel state. 35% or more of the Democratic electorate is African American, and North Carolina has as many public universities as any state in the union. Black and highly educated voters have been bastions of support for Sen Obama. But Clinton is targeting veterans and soldiers in the state full of military bases, and hitting as many small towns and rural areas as she can — hoping big margins among white, working class voters can make up the difference.
The New York Senator’s advantage here could just be old fashioned hard work. At this her fifth event of the day, Clinton admitted that she and campaign partner Governor Mike Easley were “running on fumes.”
“But we’re working hard, we’re traveling across this state,” she said. “I’ve lost track of how many towns we’ve been to.”
Another not-so-secret weapon for the Clinton campaign: an equally indefatigable surrogate in President Bill Clinton. “My husband is going to visit every place where 2 or more people gather in North Carolina before Tuesday,” she told the crowd. “This makes him feel like we’re back in Arkansas, where we campaigned across Arkansas all the time.”
Recalling driving across Arkansas during Clinton’s successful 1982 campaign to retake the Governorship he lost in 1980, Clinton said “it was a bit like my campaign. People didn’t think he was ever going to be able to pull it off.”
Early Voting on Rea Road, Charlotte
Long Lines! Took Two Hours to Vote for Hillary!
May 02, 2008
From BitDog
>"Clinton Pushes Hard in North Carolina" is the title of Time Magazine
article published on 1 MAY.
>
>http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1736819,00.html
May 01, 2008
April 30, 2008
Note:
Carmina asked to alert the group to the deadline of tomorrow,
April 1, at midnight for all letters regarding
the 6 MAY primary to the editorial board
of the Charlotte Observer. Please write them,
and please explain why you support Clinton in 150
words or less. Submit all letters to the editor to
opinion@charlotteobserver.com.
North Carolina Poll Report, April 29th
Submitted By Kenneth:
According to an Insider Advantage/Majority Report poll, Clinton now
leads Obama in North Carolina.
http://www.southernpoliticalreport.com/storylink_430_370.aspx
Insider Advantage, North Carolina Democratic Primary
571 Likely Democratic Primary Voters
29 APR 2008
Margin of Error +/- 3.8%
Clinton 44
Obama 42
Undecided 14
Our efforts will hopefully convince the large number of undecided
voters to support Clinton on 6 MAY. Be sure to participate in one of the
events published at Hillary's website, as we have the chance to deliver
this state to Hillary Clinton.
Obama For Gas Tax Holiday before He Was Against IT
article submitted by Kenneth
Yahoo News Fact Check:
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama accuses his presidential rivals of pandering to voters by supporting the "gimmick" of temporarily lifting federal taxes on gasoline, despite his own past support for a similar tax holiday.
As
a state legislator voting for a tax break, Obama even joked that he
wanted signs on gas pumps telling motorists that he was responsible for
lowering prices.
Most experts criticize the idea of a federal tax suspension, but Obama's political opponents accuse him of flip-flopping and ignoring the financial pain caused by today's rising gas prices.
THE SPIN:
Obama argues that Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican Sen. John McCain — he calls them "the two Washington candidates" — are pandering to voters by proposing to suspend the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents a gallon for three months. He says a tax holiday would provide consumers little real relief, ignore the country's energy problems and take money from road and bridge repairs.
"This is the problem with Washington. We are facing a situation where oil prices could hit $200 a barrel. Oil companies like Shell and BP just reported record profits for the quarter. And we're arguing over a gimmick that would save you half a tank of gas over the course of the entire summer so that everyone in Washington can pat themselves on the back and say that they did something," Obama says.
Clinton says Obama is turning his back on people who need relief from rising gas prices. Republicans, including the campaign of rival John McCain, question his switch.
THE FACTS:
In 2000, gasoline prices were climbing quickly, reaching $2 a gallon in the Chicago area — a remarkable price back then. Illinois legislators scrambled to offer some election-year relief to angry motorists.
Obama voted three times for a tax holiday.
The version that ended up becoming law required a six-month suspension of the state's share of the sales tax on gasoline, a 5 percent tax paid directly by consumers rather than gas stations. It also required gas stations to post signs on their pumps saying that the Illinois General Assembly had lowered taxes and the price should reflect that cut.
The impact of the tax holiday was never clear.
A government study could not determine how much of the savings was actually passed along to motorists. Many lawmakers said their constituents didn't seem to have benefited. They also worried the tax break was pushing the state budget out of balance.
At the end of Illinois' tax holiday, there was a failed push to eliminate the sales tax permanently. Obama was among those voting against eliminating the tax.
Obama's presidential campaign says the lessons of that Illinois tax holiday influenced his decision to oppose a national tax holiday. The lack of clear results then make him dubious about suspending the national tax now.
In addition, the Illinois tax was paid directly by consumers and increased as gas prices increased. Obama's campaign points out the national tax is a flat 18.4 cents (24.4 cents a gallon for diesel) and, therefore, isn't climbing as gas prices climb. It's also paid by producers, raising more questions about whether they'd pass the full savings along to customers.
During a three-month suspension, the average driver would save only about $28, according to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
"That assumes the oil companies are going to give it to you. That's probably not a likely outcome," said Jack Basso, the association's director of management and business development.
If oil companies did pass along the savings, tax experts say, the lower prices would increase demand. Since refineries are already at maximum production levels, the increased demand probably would drive prices back up.
The association also estimates that suspending the tax would divert about $8.5 billion from the Highway Trust Fund, which pays for road and bridge repairs and already faces a shortfall of $3.2 billion. Taking that tax money from the trust fund could endanger hundreds of thousands of jobs — every $1 billion in highway money supports 33,000 jobs, by one estimate — and would push more maintenance and construction costs onto the states.
"The federal gas tax is a piddly little 18 cents. If that is eliminated, it isn't going to make an iota of difference to the average gasoline purchaser, yet it's going to hasten the bankruptcy of the Highway Trust Fund," said Rod Diridon, head of the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University.
McCain suggests avoiding that problem by replacing the lost money with unspecified funds from elsewhere in the budget. Clinton wants to impose a new tax on oil company profits to make up for lifting the gasoline tax.
___
By Christopher Wills
Obama's Negatives Increase
Obama's Negatives Rise, Clinton Tops McCain in New Poll
Email
ShareApril 30, 2008 6:40 PM
ABC News' Ed O'Keefe Reports: Barack Obama's recent woes may be having an effect in the polls.
A
new CBS/New York Times poll released on Wednesday shows Sen. Obama,
D-Ill., and presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
tied in a hypothetical general election match-up, while Sen. Hillary
Clinton, D-N.Y., edges out McCain by a five-point margin.
Here are raw CBS/New York Times numbers now (among registered voters):
If the candidates were Obama and McCain, who would you vote for?
Obama: 45%
McCain: 45%
Undecided/Don't Know: 6%
If the candidates were Clinton and McCain, who would you vote for?
Clinton: 48%
McCain: 43%
Undecided/Don't Know: 5%
"Barack Obama's problems over the last few weeks, including his Pennsylvania primary loss and the continuing media coverage of his former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, may have contributed to his weaker position compared to two weeks ago," read an analysis released by CBS and the New York Times.
Since
their last poll four weeks ago, unfavorable views of Obama have risen
10% -- from 24% a month ago to 34% at present. Obama's woes also
appear to know few demographic bounds -- unfavorable views of Obama
have risen among women, whites, independents and Democrats, according
to CBS News and the New York Times.
Here are the raw CBS/New York Times numbers as of their last poll on April 3, 2008 (among registered voters):
If the candidates were Obama and McCain, who would you vote for?
Obama: 47%
McCain: 42%
Undecided/Don't Know: 7%
If the candidates were Clinton and McCain, who would you vote for?
Clinton: 48%
McCain: 43%
Undecided/Don't Know: 5%
An Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Monday found similar results.
In
that poll, Clinton leads McCain by 9-points, 50-41, in a hypothetical
general election match-up. Obama, on the other hand, is "virtually
tied" with McCain, at 46-44 percent.
Obama strongly condemned recent comments
made by his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, on Tuesday, a move
that many political pundits consider high-stakes but necessary gamble
by his campaign to control a spreading political firestorm.
Reacting
to what he called the "spectacle" of his former pastor at the National
Press Club, Obama denounced Wright saying, "What Rev. Wright said
yesterday directly contradicts everything I have ever done or said in
my life."
"Whatever relationship I had with Rev Wright has changed as a result of this," Obama said.
The
candidate went considerably further than he has in the past in
distancing himself from Wright, accusing him of "insensitivity and
outrageousness" in his Monday appearance at the National Press Club in
Washington.
"The person I saw (on Monday) was not the person I met 20 years ago," Obama said.
So, let's focus on Barack Obama and his campaign and see where things stand in aftermath of latest Rev. Wright events.
In his exclusive blog on ABCNews.com, former Bush campaign strategist and ABC News political contributor Matthew Dowd
opined that "Obama's statements in last 24 hours of being passionately
critical of Wright and saying he was out of step with America were the
only choice he had left. It was his only option and he seized it well."
Dowd laid out four points he views as critical to an Obama comeback
emphasizing, "The biggest damage to him is that he held a brand of
being an unconventional candidate in a time America wants a shift from
the conduct of politics as usual. But he and his campaign have seemed
very conventional of late."
Michelle Obama
Article submitted by Kenneth
Michelle Obama Declines Opportunity to Discuss Wright
April 30, 2008 3:54 PM
ABC
News' Sunlen Miller Reports: Back on the campaign trail, Barack Obama
reitereated his disappointment in the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, defending
his denoucement of his former pastor in a press conference on Tuesday.
"Frankly,
what he said over the last few days and in some of the sermons that
have been excerpted were unacceptable and weren't things that we
believed in or cared about or cared to believe in," Sen. Obama, D-Ill.,
said in response to a voter's question at a campaign event in
Indianapolis, Ind., "I've made a statement (on Tuesday) that was hard
to make but it was I believed."
The questioner had asked about
"turning his back on someone who had been a good friend" but Obama,
with his wife Michelle by his side, did not take issue with the tone.
"I
mean, it is true that part of the job when you're running for president
is that anybody who is tangentially, you know, even remotely associated
with you is somehow fair game and that's unfortunate because most of us
in our lives –- we meet people, we know people, some people we work
with or we sit on a board with -- we don't really go vet them and find
out all the terrible things they might have done because, you know, we
don't know or what they said to see if it's politically correct," Obama
continued.
Obama changed the subject rather quickly to talking
about how he and Michelle came from modest backgrounds, but when
wrapping up, the candidate looked at his wife seated on a picnic table
next to him and asked, "So Michelle, do you have anything to add to
that?"
Mrs. Obama shook her head indicating no.
"You do
but," the Senator said, trailing off, leaving the incomplete thought in
the air before adding, "Remember there are a lot of reporters around
though."
April 29, 2008
Best Poll News Yet
Great News On Polling Data from Kenneth!
According to Survey USA, the most accurate pollster this primary cycle,
Clinton and Obama are locked in a statistical
dead heat in North Carolina.
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=d4d1bc7e-32d4-438e-8143-75c8b25b3435
Survey USA, North Carolina Democratic Primary
26 - 28 APRIL 2008
727 Likely Democratic Primary Voters
Margin of Error +/- 3.7%
Obama 49
Clinton 44
Other 4
Undecided 3
Obama's advantage has evaporated, which may explain why his campaign
has asked all of its supporters to swarm the state. But even worse for
Obama, this poll does not measure the effects of the Easley endorsement
or the seemingly endless press coverage of Reverend Jeremiah Wright.
Continue to volunteer, and participate in our events, as we can deliver
this state to Hillary, even if thousands of Chicagoans invade the state
before the 6 MAY primary.
Clinton, by the way, enjoys a statistically significant lead in
Indiana. Perhaps those Chicagoans should cancel their plane tickets and ride
the South Shore train into northwest Indiana, where Clinton is
appealing to voters in the Chicago media market.
http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=fbedb864-ec9d-47ab-87f2-c41203a87585
Survey USA, Indiana Democratic Primary
25 - 27 APRIL 2008
628 Likely Democratic Primary Voters
Margin of Error +/- 4%
Clinton 52
Obama 43
Other 3
Undecided 2
Gov. Easley Endorses Senator Clinton
My Letter to the Governor.
Governor Mike Easley,
The leadership of great Democrats such as yourself are what continues
to give me great hope for our State and the Nation. Thank you for your
endorsement of Sen. Hillary Clinton for President. While many may
equally complain about your endorsemet, rest assured, there are many
reasonable, engaged, informed voters here in the great state of North Carolina
who remember who our friends are, and that includes the great
friendship of Sen. Clinton.
I have been dismayed by the endorsements of the candidates seeking
higher office in the Primary Elections in North Carolina, who see Mr. Obama
as a coattail candidate and are ignoring the great history and
leadership of Sen. Clinton. We call this pandering, and that is not the way
Democrats are supposed to behave.
We are better than that. I have long said that the Party is not being
"torn apart" as some in the media, and especially supporters of Mr.
Obama, have portrayed our Party. The Party will be united, if the best
candidate is finally endorsed by great leaders such as yourself, who will
put aside their bias and make a wise, intelligent decision about the
future of our country. Thank you for making such a decision.
Kindest Regards,
Nathan Wolf
Precinct Member, Precinct 19, Mecklenburg County
Delegate to the District Convention
Poll Data Indiana
Poll Data submitted by Kenneth
Survey USA, Indiana Democratic Primary
25 - 27 APRIL 2008
628 Likely Democratic Primary Voters
Margin of Error +/- 4%
Survey USA, Indiana Poll April 25-27
Clinton 52
Obama 43
"In a Democratic Primary in Indiana today, 04/28/08, 8 days until votes
are counted, Hillary Clinton finishes ahead of Barack Obama, according
to a SurveyUSA poll conducted for WHAS-TV in Louisville and WCPO-TV in
Cincinnati. The results are identical to a SurveyUSA TV poll released
4 weeks ago, on 04/01/08. Clinton led then 52% to 43%, leads now 52% to
43%. Other polls show the contest closer; some polls show Obama ahead.
SurveyUSA tracking graphs show movement toward Clinton in the middle
of April but offsetting movement to Obama at the end of April. This
back-and-forth can be seen clearly on the interactive tracking graphs for
males, for Democrats, for pro-choice voters, and for residents of
greater Indianapolis. Clinton's advantage is steady among women, steady among
voters age 50+, and steady in Southern Indiana, which borders
Kentucky. Obama is gaining ground among voters under 50, where he leads for the
first time; among liberals, where he leads for the first time; in
Northern Indiana, where he is tied for the first time; and in Central
Indiana, where he has cut Clinton's lead in half. Clinton, by contrast, is
making steady inroads among Independent voters."
April 28, 2008
Anyone for a Game of Table Tennis?
contributed by Kenneth, ...
By Chuck Neubauer and Tom Hamburger, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
April 27, 2008
WASHINGTON -- After an unsuccessful campaign for Congress in 2000, Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama faced serious financial pressure: numerous debts, limited cash and a law practice he had neglected for a year. Help arrived in early 2001 from a significant new legal client -- a longtime political supporter.
Chicago entrepreneur Robert Blackwell Jr. paid Obama an $8,000-a-month retainer to give legal advice to his growing technology firm, Electronic Knowledge Interchange. It allowed Obama to supplement his $58,000 part-time state Senate salary for over a year with regular payments from Blackwell's firm that eventually totaled $112,000.
April 27, 2008
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Maya Angelou
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Geraldine Ferraro
- "We've chosen a path to equality, don't let them turn us around..."
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