It is times like these when you wonder why the man still has a TV show, and why couldn’t the Secret Service have shot first, asked questions second?*
*As to the second part of that statement I am, in fact, only kidding. Kind of.
Archive for the 'Obama' Category
Matt Yglesias and Ezra Klein both note the importance of Barack Obama’s win in Iowa last night by emphasizing the fact that a black man just won in a state that is described as overwhelmingly white and lacking diversity.
“One crucial thing Barack Obama did last night was get white people to vote for him. Lots and lots of white people. Iowa’s not the kind of place where you can dominate the black vote, plus add on a sliver of white liberals and win a primary. To win — even in a primary — you need the support of white people.
And one thing holding Obama back among both black and white voters has been, I think, a fear that other people won’t be willing to vote for a black guy. Winning a primary does a lot to dispel those worries.”
“And atop it all, Barack Obama won. A black man just won the Iowa caucus. And he won not because of his race, nor in spite of it; not because of the novelty of his campaign, nor because of its historic import. He won because a broad swath of Americans found him to be the most inspiring, the most elevating, the most attractive of the candidates. He won because so many Iowans felt their heart quicken before his words that they smashed all turnout records in order to add their voice to his. It’s a remarkable night. Not just for Obama, or for Democrats, or for political junkies. For the country.”
This isn’t to say that racial discussions aren’t still necessary in this country and this state, they most definitely are. Just look to Common Iowan’s blog for an example.
Throughout this race people have asked if America is ready for a black man to be president. If this many Iowans–Democrats, Republicans, and independents–can come together for Barack Obama it sure seems like America can handle him. We aren’t just white folk loving white folk in Iowa. We’re tolerant, and we’re diverse in our own way. And through the caucus process the candidates were grilled. We listened to their rhetoric, their policies, their stump speeches, and their closing arguments. Change and unity were the themes that seemed to resonate the most. Hope for an America that can not only look beyond the things that divide us, but, if ever so subtly, look beyond race.
Now, if only Iowans could truly look past gender and elect a female governor, congresswoman, or senator. Then we’d really destroy what’s left of any glass ceiling we might have.
So, Oprah Winfrey’s in town and going to be campaigning for Barack Obama today.
To bracket Oprah’s visit, Hillary Clinton and her campaign have brought her mother, Dorothy, and daughter, Chelsea, out on the campaign trail.
What does all of this mean?
Well, it seems to say that the campaign is looking to celebrities (or pseudo-celebrities like former first children) to mobilize people or even to give interest to what they’re doing. I’m sorry, but for me that doesn’t work. Maybe for others it does.
And as for the ‘Oprah Factor’ I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to mean much for Obama. What do you think: are people going to turn out to see Oprah or to see Oprah talk about Obama?
Just as a quick disclaimer, I’m going to start perusing the other blogs in Iowa and covering the 2008 race soon–I just haven’t checked them in a few months which means my reader is going to be swamped.
Anyway, Clinton Campaign Manager Patti Solis Doyle sent out an email last night detailing “dirty campaign tactics” that had supposedly begun in Iowa and New Hampshire. You can read the full text of the email in below the fold. The email contains three “sources” for the campaign’s claim: a report from an Iowan about a push poll, a blurb from a letter to the editor in an Iowa newspaper (which blamed the attack on Obama’s campaign), and a report about a call in New Hampshire talking about Clinton’s “failures” on health care reform.
Now, I don’t doubt that there are attacks happening–and maybe even dirty tricks. I’m new to the political scene in terms of relative age but I’m not naive. However, I think its odd that the campaign sends out an email like this without any links or attributions to the claims made.
And to me, the reference to Obama’s campaign in the letter to the editor was nothing more than a thinly-veiled attack. And that’s what she’s been doing as of late (as Obama’s campaign notes here).
Listen, I like all of our major candidates for the most part. I used to even despise Biden and give him hell here on the blog. Sure he still deserves it, but he’s campaigning like a pro here. But these kind of petty emails are sent out only to hype the idea that things are getting really bad. Are they really that bad yet?
Continue reading ‘Clinton Campaign says dirty tricks have begun’
Tracy Russo of Sen. John Edwards presidential campaign is live-blogging and writing about the campaign’s Fighting for One America Iowa Bus Tour this week over at Bleeding Heartland. I promoted Day 1’s entry, while Day 2 and Day 3 appear are here and here (respectively).
There is a lot of great content and I sure hope that the other campaigns in Iowa try something similar, at least in terms of reaching out to Iowa’s progressive community blog. Senator Barack Obama’s campaign keeps a regular Iowa blog going at their place, but haven’t really reached out to the blogging community on Bleeding Heartland yet. That’s something I’d like to see.
Sen. Barack Obama has finally gone on the air in Iowa, airing two new documentary-style ads about his work in Illinois as a state senator and his days as a community organizer. You can see the ads below:
Carry
Choices
Obama joins former Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Chris Dodd, and Gov. Bill Richardson as Democrats who have aired ads on television in the state.
Look at what Ted Sporer has started. Rhyming was cool back in elementary school, but I think Sporer’s comments are quite reflective of the current Iowa Republican leadership: we can’t talk about real issues in terms of facts or legitimate debate, so let’s pretend we’re at recess and be childish.
Senator Barack Obama will be holding a rally in Ames on Sunday — the day after he launches his official bid for the presidency in Springfield, Illinois. The rally will held at Beyer Hall on the Iowa State University. Doors open at 11 AM and the rally starts at Noon. Free tickets will be available for pick up by the west stairwell on the ground floor of the ISU Memorial Union on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from 10 AM to 2 PM.
UPDATE: Here is the full schedule of events this weekend with ticket information.
I’m not sure if the Hotline specifically mentioned this as a rumor or not, but I can confirm this:
“Word from IA is that Jennifer O’Malley, who was Edwards’s IA field dir. in ‘03-’04, will serve as his state director this cycle. O’Malley is engaged to Patrick Dillon, who is slated to become Gov. Chet Culver’s chief of staff. Dillon was Culver’s mgr and worked on Edwards’s ‘03-’04 field and press staffs in IA. Most recently, O’Malley was mgr for Rep. Jim Davis’s FL Gov bid.”
I met O’Malley briefly at the Culver Inaugural Ball. She seems to be highly qualified and, I believe, worked for the Edwards campaign back in 2004 as well (so did Dillon). For now, Governor Culver will be remaining neutral in the race — which is the best move for him so far. Former Governor Tom Vilsack remained neutral in 2004, opting to endorse John Kerry several days after Kerry had won the Iowa Caucuses. However, it is important to note that First Lady Christie Vilsack did endorse Kerry prior to the caucuses, which might have had some impact.
Anyway, I’m guessing that the Edwards folks will have an office in Iowa set up pretty soon. Some other campaigns have taken to hiring Iowa directors as well. Just today Hillary Clinton announced that JoDee Winterhof had been hired as her Iowa State Director, hopefully adding some credibility to the idea that she will be seriously competing in Iowa (though from what I know her only real caucus managing experience was Harkin’s 1992 run, try that on for size). As I’ve heard from a couple of activists, though, she has to prove to Iowans that she deserves to win and doesn’t come into the state just expecting to win. Her visit on Saturday could be indicative of her strategy, particularly if she isn’t well-received because then she’ll have to change things up.
Barack Obama has also hired some Iowa staffers, which IowaPolitics.com confirms in this release. Paul Tewes will be the Iowa State Director and Emily Parcell with be the Iowa Political Director. Both have been involved in the Iowa caucuses in the past two cycles in some form or another and will be helpful in crafting an Iowa strategy.
Finally, Governor Tom Vilsack is the only candidate, that I know of, who has an office in Iowa already but that’s because his national headquarters is located here. With Dusky Terry as his Iowa Director and Jesse Harris as his Iowa Field Director, he’ll definitely have a strong organization in place for Iowa, but that’s to be expected.
For my previous discussion about the folks behind the candidates, see this post from earlier this month.
I’m not sure what the hell the Associated Press is doing publishing this story, but it clearly reads as if someone took an RNC talking points sheet and turned it into something supposed to look like a news story. Clearly, since John Solomon works at the Washington Post, they had to find some other hack to write their piece. The problem with the piece is that it was clearly written and researched, almost like an opposition research piece, then asked opponents and supporters for comment. He then took an eight year state senate record and highlighted controversies that would make him appear “liberal” and would cause controversy. This isn’t journalism, but a hack piece meant to attack Obama.
And I’m not the only one noticing, either.
I’ve got no problems with compare and contrast pieces, or hell, even real investigative journalism. I mean, that’s what bloggers and new media are good for. But Solomon is always at the heals of Democrats trying to find scandal and controversy where it doesn’t exist — and then misrepresents the truth. See TPM Muckraker for more.
As I have pointed out, polling the Iowa Caucuses this early can be quite complicated and worthless, but at least it provides us trends to track. Today, Zogby International released their first Iowa Caucus 2008 poll on the Democratic race for president. While they don’t describe their question or their exact methodology for the polling, from my tracking of the results they seem to be right in the middle of the pack between the clear differences we found between the ARG Poll and the KCCI/Research 2000 polling from a few weeks ago. Anyway, enough babble, here are the results:
DEMOCRATS %
Edwards 27%
Obama 17%
Vilsack 16%
Clinton 16%
Biden 3%
Kerry 3%
Kucinich 1%
Richardson 1%
Not sure 13%
Clearly, from what they show, there are clearly about three tiers in Iiowa. Edwards, at least in their polling, holds the first tier to himself. Obama, Vilsack, and Clinton control the second tier, while the rest control the third tier. Hotline On Call has their thoughts here. This doesn’t mean I believe these tiers, it is just reflective of what the polling shows. Maybe I’ll issue my own tiers soon in a cattle call format or something.
So far, I think the polling is quite reliable just from the ground game that I’m familiar with in Iowa. I’ll be able to be a better judge of where people stand, at least in Polk County, after next Wednesday’s Central Committee Meeting.
From this morning’s Des Moines Register:
“Aides declined to discuss staffing details or travel plans to early states.
However, they confirmed that Al Gore’s 2000 Iowa caucus campaign manager, Paul Tewes, was being courted to be Obama’s Iowa director.”
I also hear that Steve Hildebrand, a major campaign adviser, strategist, and Iowa expert, is in town today looking to do some hiring with job interviews. I’ll let you know more as I hear it.
Oh, and on February 10, when Obama makes the campaign for President official in Springfield, IL, he’ll be coming to Iowa afterward.
Things in 2008 just officially got a lot more interesting with Sen. Barack Obama declaring that he is going to explore a run for the presidency. Quite honestly, when ‘rock star’ or leading candidates like Obama declare that they’ll be creating an exploratory campaign, it usually means they’re going to do it no matter what.
Here is Obama’s announcement video, which was done online:
I got an email from one of his campaign advisors earlier today. When I get some good downtime, I’ll be giving him a call and getting some more information.
What are your thoughts?
UPDATE: Tyler’s thoughts here.
To me, this is the best thing that Tom Vilsack can do to combat the rock star rise of Senator Obama:
“I may not be a rock star, but I’m rock solid.”
It is a nice turn of phrase, and while not directly attacking Obama, makes one question his experience. The lack of experience is likely to be one of the biggest political obstacles faced in an Obama campaign for the White House.
So far, he’s used it at least twice, once in Sioux City and once in Mason City. It’ll be interesting to see if he uses it outside Iowa, considering his lack of name recognition in some places (but that he’s working to build). It works in Iowa because people know him.
If you’re interested at all in the behind the scenes action in the caucuses and knowing the names behind the candidates, then you better start keeping track now. Beyond the simple visits and events with candidates, the staffs work hard to get things going and to make these things work. Building off of Geraldine’s post, as well as this one at TPM Cafe, and the list provided over at GW’s Democracy in Action Iowa Caucus page, I’ll try and give you the names of the people you’re going to need to know who are working for particular candidates, both official and unofficial campaigns.
-
Iowa Democratic Party
- Scott Brennan — IDP Chairman (will remain neutral)
- Mike Milligan — Executive Director of the IDP, with past experience for years in Iowa politics and managed the 2006 Trifecta victory for Iowa Democrats.
- Norm Sturzenbach — Political and Caucus Director, past deputy campaign manager and political director of Chet Culver’s gubernatorial campaign, as well as past work with Bill Bradley’s 2000 Iowa campaign and AARP in 2004.
- No Iowa-specific staff that I know of, yet. However, having Ed Fallon as a volunteer/early endorsement, he might be able to offer a bit of Iowa insight that might be helpful for the caucuses. Rob Tully, past IDP Chairman, also offers a wealth of experience and strategy.
- Jordan Oster — Director of Iowa DraftObama.org, previously worked for Chet Culver’s gubernatorial campaign and is currently a Drake University student.
- Steve Hildebrand — unofficial campaign manager/pusher for Obama. He has been reaching out to potential staff behind the scenes, was Sen. Tom Daschle’s campaign manager in 2004 and Sen. Tim Johnson’s in 2002. He ran the Iowa caucuses for Gore in ‘00 and knows Iowa quite well.
- Dusky Terry — Iowa State Director, former Secretary of Agriculture candidate for Iowa, former staffer for Vilsack’s Heartland PAC, and former policy advisor for Vilsack.
- Jesse Harris — Iowa Field Director, previously was the IDP Coordinated Campaign Field Director and Field Director for Chet Culver’s gubernatorial campaign. Previously was a field staffer for John Edwards in 2004.
- Jeff Link — Communications Strategist. Link is an Iowa boy through and through, just like Dusky and Jesse, and he’ll likely be contributing to the caucus communication strategy with experience from his previous work for Senator Harkin and Gore-Lieberman 2000 in Iowa.
- Gordon Fischer — activist/strategist/consultant? Gordon is a past IDP Chairman and knows the caucuses like the back of his hand, so his experience will be very helpful.
- Again, no Iowa-specific staff since there is no official campaign yet, but her early support from Bonnie Campbell is likely to help her in Iowa and help her with caucus strategy.
John Edwards
Barack Obama
Tom Vilsack
**Note: His campaign will be based in Des Moines, but I’ll just be listing the Iowa-specific people who’ll be working the caucuses.**
Hillary Clinton
I know it is still very early to be talking about stuff like this, but this just gives you an idea of who is going where this early on, at least in regards to staff. Tracking endorsements and activist support will be something to definitely keep track of as time goes on. I think by the end of January or February, we’ll start to have a clearer picture of who will be where when it comes to staff and stuff. Part of that is because the whole season has started so early. When it comes to endorsements and big activist support, I’d expect to start seeing emails/releases with names around the start of the summer or the middle of it.
