My little politics blog

Pregnant Pause

It was, in this reporter's opinion, the most interesting moment in today's Clinton campaign phoner with reporters. Responding to the release of HRC's new TX TV ad, which asserts in no subtle terms that only she has the experience to deal with a major world crisis, and, relatedly, to keep your children safe, Slate's John Dickerson asked the obvious question:

"What foreign policy moment would you point to in Hillary's career where she's been tested by crisis?" he said.

Silence on the call. You could've knit a sweater in the time it took the usually verbose team of Mark Penn, Howard Wolfson and Lee Feinstein, Clinton's national security director, to find a cogent answer. And what they came up with was weak -- that she's been endorsed by many high ranking members of the uniformed military.

Take a listen ...

CLINTON DONATIONS FROM TROUBLED FIRM

Posted: Friday, February 29, 2008 5:47 PM
From NBC's Lisa Myers and Jim Popkin

Sen. Hillary Clinton has declined to return $170,000 in campaign contributions from individuals at a company accused of widespread sexual harassment, and whose CEO is a disbarred lawyer with a criminal record, federal campaign records show.

The federal government has accused the Illinois management consulting firm, International Profit Associates, or IPA, of a brazen pattern of sexual harassment including "sexual assaults," "degrading anti-female language" and "obscene suggestions."

In a 2001 lawsuit full of lurid details, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that 103 women employees at IPA were victimized for years. The civil case is ongoing, and IPA vigorously denies the allegations.

"This is by far, hands down, the worst case I've ever experienced," said Diane Smason, one of the EEOC lawyers handling the lawsuit. "Every woman there experienced sex harassment, they were part of a hostile work environment of sex harassment. And this occurred from the top down."

Sen. Clinton's spokesman, Howard Wolfson, told NBC News in a statement that the senator decided to keep the funds because the lawsuit is "ongoing" and because none of the sexual harassment allegations has been proven in court.

"With regard to the pending harassment suit, as a general matter, the campaign assesses findings of fact in deciding whether to return contributions," Wolfson said.

updated 5:28 p.m. PT, Mon., Sept. 10, 2007

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign said Monday it will return $850,000 in donations raised by Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, who is under federal investigation for allegedly violating election laws.



"In light of recent events and allegations that Mr. Norman Hsu engaged in an illegal investment scheme, we have decided out of an abundance of caution to return the money he raised for our campaign," Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said in a statement Monday night. "An estimated 260 donors this week will receive refunds totaling approximately $850,000 from the campaign."

Wolfson said the Clinton campaign also will vigorously review its fundraisers, including thorough criminal background checks, in the future. "In any instances where a source of a bundler's income is in question, the campaign will take affirmative steps to verify its origin," he said.

Someone asked the obvious question re: that 3 AM ad:

Quote:

Pregnant Pause

<snip>

Take a listen ...

Whatever else is happening, Hillary Clinton seems to have a clear lead in Rhode Island. Crucially, only heavily Catholic northeastern states that hold primaries count, so she's in good shape.

Local color:

Why oh why couldn't today's weather be tomorrow? It's incredibly gorgeous right now -- sunny, warm. (High in the 60's.) Tomorrow: 30's, rainy. ALL DAY.

WASHINGTON -- As they mapped out a campaign schedule for Bill Clinton, top aides to Hillary Rodham Clinton kept his time short in South Carolina. They were probably going to lose the state, they figured, and they wanted their most powerful surrogate to move on to Georgia, Alabama and other Southern states.

But the former president shelved the plan, according to campaign aides. Day after day he stayed in South Carolina, getting into angry confrontations with the press and others. In the end, Hillary Clinton lost the Jan. 26 vote there by a 2-to-1 margin and saw her standing with African Americans nationwide become strained.

Hillary Clinton may be one of the most disciplined figures in national politics, but she has presided over a campaign operation riven by feuding, rival fiefdoms and second-guessing of top staff members.

Obama, who leads Clinton in delegates, would pose problems for any candidate. But aides to Clinton said the dysfunction within her campaign team made its task that much tougher.

Joe Trippi, a senior advisor to John Edwards' now-dropped Democratic campaign, said: "At some point the candidate has to step in and bust heads and say 'Enough!'

"If there's fighting internally, the candidate has to step up and make it clear what direction she wants to go and stop this stuff dead in its tracks. Otherwise there's going to be a struggle for power and control right until the end. It's crippling."

The campaign also had trouble settling on a way to confront Obama. Top aides could not agree on whether, or how, to attack him.

"Why aren't we attacking him?" Bill Clinton asked at a high-level staff meeting Dec. 1 at the Clintons' Washington home, according to people familiar with events. With aides sitting around the dining room table, Bill Clinton said it was time to get more aggressive with Obama.

The dispute flared anew after Clinton's defeat in South Carolina. At a meeting in the Arlington, Va., headquarters, Penn and others gave a PowerPoint presentation on what was billed as a new message: Clinton would be championing "Solutions for America."

[Mike] Henry, then the deputy campaign manager, objected, according to people at the meeting. He said it sounded like a repackaging of the old message that Clinton was a strong leader rather than a warm person. Indeed, a top item in the PowerPoint was "strength and experience" -- a theme Clinton had been stressing for months.

Henry asked: "Is this what we're doing, or is it up for discussion?"

Penn said Clinton had already approved the new message.

At that point, Henry asked if the campaign had learned anything from its defeats. It should be clear, he said, that voters want to see a more human side of her.

"This is not bringing out the humanity in her," Henry said, according to people present.

Penn countered that the reason for many of her defeats, particularly in smaller states, had been a lack of organization, not the message -- a swipe at Henry and others in field work.

In the end, Clinton backed Penn. Henry left the campaign.

Think that poor weather will help Clinton, with the low turnout it causes?

I worry about early voting in OH.

Cycloptichorn

This is interesting slash weird: McCain on autism and thimerosal:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/02/john-mccain-ent.html

"But can I make this one last point? And I hope I'm not offending anybody," Obama says. His audience--the women anyway--know where he is going, and they begin to call out. "Come on now--" Behind me, a lady with a voice that can be heard as far as Dallas offers encouragement.

"It doesn't matter how much money we put in--"

"Come on now--"

"--if parents don't parent."

Shrieks and trills from every corner again interrupt.

"It's not good enough to say to yourself, it's the school, and you don't turn off the TV, you don't help with the homework, there's not a book in the house--"

"COME ON NOW--" In my ear, she's stentorian, bossy and encouraging, like a rancher birthing a calf. Will Obama be able to utter the truth? To get it out? She's sure he has it in him.

"You got a video player on--"

"Come on, Obama! Come on, Obama! Come on!"

He is drowned by the roar, loud as falling water, and now the traveling press, realizing that something is actually happening, snap to. They sit up, swivel and stare. Unfortunately, the standing cameras are trained in the wrong direction, on Barack. One photographer hoists a big hand camera that he turns on the crowd, out of their seats and gesticulating, leaning forwards and back in a kind of a dance.

"So turn off the TV set, give the video game away, buy a little desk, or clear the kitchen table, from September help with homework--if they don't know how to do it, give them help. If you don't know how to do it, call the teacher. Make them go to bed at a reasonable time. Give them some breakfast. . . . If your child misbehaves at school, don't cuss out the teacher. Don't cuss out the teacher."

"OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!" These 750 in Beaumont are louder than the 20,000 in Houston's Toyota Center last week. The din stuns. Stupefies. Really, there aren't words to describe it.

Obama cracks a ruler, and the crowd goes wild

By Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 29, 2008

They came to cheer. They got a lecture. The crowd went wild.

During a Barack Obama town-hall meeting on the economy, the topic turned to education, which, the Illinois senator said, could not be remedied by spending alone. "It doesn't matter how much money we put in if parents don't parent," he scolded.

The line is one the Democrat delivers often, but on Thursday in Beaumont, Texas, he struck a remarkable chord with his mostly African American audience.

"It's not good enough for you to say to your child, 'Do good in school,' and then when that child comes home, you've got the TV set on," Obama lectured. "You've got the radio on. You don't check their homework. There's not a book in the house. You've got the video game playing."

Each line was punctuated by a roar, and Obama began to shout, falling into a preacher's rhythm. "Am I right?"

"So turn off the TV set. Put the video game away. Buy a little desk. Or put that child at the kitchen table. Watch them do their homework. If they don't know how to do it, give 'em help. If you don't know how to do it, call the teacher."

By now, the crowd of nearly 2,000 was lifted from the red velveteen seats of the Julie Rogers Theatre, hands raised to the gilded ceiling. "Make 'em go to bed at a reasonable time! Keep 'em off the streets! Give 'em some breakfast! Come on! Can I get an amen here?"

Whooooooooooooooooo, went the crowd. "You know I'm right," Obama laughed. "And, since I'm on a roll, if your child misbehaves in school, don't cuss out the teacher! You know I'm right about that! Don't cuss out the teacher! Do something with your child!"

Pandemonium.

"All right, all right," he finished, "settle down. We're having too much fun here. . . . I'm speaking the truth!"

I am, as I said, a feminist. By that I mean first, that I think that women should be given the same rights and opportunities as men, and should be treated with the same respect; and second, that this is not just something I affirm in the abstract, but that I am committed to trying to work to achieve. This is completely different from "forming a political movement directed at taking power." I do not want women to exercise power over men per se, or for men to exercise power over women, or anything of that kind. I want everyone to have as rich a set of opportunities as they can possibly have, and for everyone to be treated with equal respect. That is a very, very different thing.