Corny Music

Proving yet again that youth votes are so important in the 2008 race and attempting to be the first to use music as a slogan, Hillary Clinton has surpassed corny and moved to downright ridiculous in allowing the American voter to choose a campaign song that will represent and identify her campaign. American Idol meets politics! To my knowledge no other candidates are doing this, and I hope it doesn't set a trend.

I wonder what the musicians think of their song possibly being tied to Clinton's campaign?! I like so many of the songs that I'd hate to think of Hillary every time now after I hear it! After the first round of voting, Clinton's campaign has drawn this out to a second round with five of the original choices and five choices that were the top write-in vote. I commend the candidates for making the 2008 election about the voter and trying to increase voter participation early, but this is just absurd in my opinion.

Political Roundup

Today's post is a hodge-podge of news related to the 2008 elections.

First, I must mention that yet another candidate has entered the race on the Republican side. Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore entered the race as of yesterday, which doesn't come as much of a surprise since he formed an "exploratory committee" back in January. The announcement came from none other than Iowa. Gilmore says that the other Republican candidates are far too liberal, and he deems himself the only "real" Republican candidate in the race. Just what we need-an ultra-conservative to follow up the current ultra-ultra-conservative in office!

In case you haven't heard, Mike Huckabee's son was arrested for carrying a gun. Another plus for the Republicans following last week's Virginia Tech shooting. He was carrying the gun at none other than an airport!

We all knew McCain was a nut, but now we find out he has 22 dogs. That makes him tied with the crazy cat woman each of us has in our neighborhood or at work.

Clinton has recently been questioned for dropping the Rodham in her name. While she still uses Hillary Rodham Clinton in the senate and on all official senate materials, her campaign Web site lists Rodham no where. When her husband failed to be re-elected as Arkansas governor, she began going by Rodham Clinton and he was then re-elected. I must question if the name identity crisis is over preceived positives being tied to Bill Clinton more closely.

Republicans DO NOT Make Us Safer

In a rare reaction to Rudy Giuliani's comments today, Obama, Edwards and Clinton struck back. Obama actually issued a statement with comments directly aimed at Giuliani and actually using his name. The step of issuing a statement retalating to another candidates remarks is rare, but justified in this case.

Giuliani actually said “America will be safer with a Republican president.” Unbelievable. He went on to elaborate that only a Republican president will protect the people from terrorists and be on the offense, whereas a Democratic president would only be on the defense the cost and number of deaths will be greater. I don't see how he can make that claim, since the Republicans don't want to withdraw, thus spending more money to finance the war and more war casualties as well. And, didn't September 11 happen under a Republican president and Republican New York City mayor? Obviously the Republicans aren't the great offensive force Giuliani claims. Read his full comments.

While Clinton issued a statement, she did not actually name Giuliani. But Obama had the guts to name him specifically, and Edwards later did as well. Obama said: "Rudy Giuliani today has taken the politics of fear to a new low and I believe Americans are ready to reject those kind of politics. America’s mayor should know that when it comes to 9/11 and fighting terrorists, America is united. We know we can win this war based on shared purpose, not the same divisive politics that question your patriotism if you dare to question failed policies that have made us less secure. I think we should focus on strengthening our intelligence, working with local authorities and doing all the things we haven’t yet done to keep Americans safe. The threat we face is real, and deserves better than to be the punchline of another political attack.”

Giuliani, you're creating back-lash you cannot afford at this point. He is clearly working to attract more conservatives from the Republican Party, but in doing so, he's making bold and stupid claims he cannot back up. And I don't think the American people truly believe a Republican president will make us safer, instead they're ready to give Bush the boot in a hurry in order to get a fresh perspective on the war and finally end it. Only a Democrat has the courage and smarts to do just that.

Numbers Game

Yesterday the Federal Election Committee finishing counting and double-counting the amount raised by Obama in the first quarter, and it was even more than originally reported. His campaign raised more than $25 million, and the original 100,000 donors was actually 104,000. Yet his campaign touts that the real story is the amount of giving in the two weeks since the end of the first quarter. Since that time, more than 18,400 donors have given, and 90 percent of those are for the first time.

An e-mail from his campaign had this to say:

With the news of our historic start, the Washington chattering class is nervous. Those invested in the status quo have a hard time grasping that a movement made up of people who want a new kind of politics can actually change things. Now's the time for every person who supports Barack Obama to make one thing perfectly clear: we're here, we're serious about change, and we're going to be heard.

And with the up-swing in donating, continues an increase in online support. Of the 18,000 donors, 15,000 gave online!

Recognizing that the support of women is also crucial to meet the numbers, Obama officially launched an initiative aimed at women today during a Women for Obama luncheon, where he raised $750,000 and once again made a statement by intruding on "Hillary's turf." And over the weekend he rallied in Atlanta and South Carolina. The Atlanta rally drew 20,000 supporters, more than have ever attended one rally in the city's history. And he entered Edwards turf in the Carolinas. All bets are off in Obama's campaign, proving that he really does a fresh way of doing things.

Hillary Endorsers

Hillary has received several endorsements over the last week, among them an endorsement from Iowa's Governor, Tom Vilsack, who until last month, was also running for president. Nine additional state representatives from New Hampshire also announced their endorsement of Clinton, bringing the total number NH state reps for Clinton to 29. The governor of New Jersey and two congressmen also officially announced their support. More than a dozen state officials in New Jersey are now behind her. While none of these people are so significant that these endorsements spell ruin for Obama and others, they are leaders in their states, states which have very early primaries.

Oval Office For Sale

It seems the Oval Office of the White House is up for sale! After reading the startling campaign fundraising numbers, clearly the Oval Office is available for purchase. By the end of the election, it seems these candidates could single-handedly end the national debt!

I must admit that I am happy to see that Obama stole a bit of Clinton's thunder by tying her for money raised, making him a bigger threat than I think Clinton's camp originally estimated and bringing more attention from the American people. He is on par with once-supposed front-runner Clinton. What I respect about Obama's fundraising strategy is that none of the money was from PACs or corporations, but instead all from individuals. To me this shows his vote on hot issues can't be bought by the PAC willing to pay the most. And no one other candidate can say they didn't accept PAC money! And more than half the donors contributed online, demonstrating that online support is growing and quashing some of my earlier fears that online support wouldn't translate to offline support.

While Clinton has honed a vast national fundraising network through two Senate campaigns and her husband's eight years as president, Obama launched his bid for the White House with a relatively small donor base concentrated largely in Illinois, his home state. But his early opposition to the Iraq war and voter excitement over his quest to be the first black president quickly fueled a powerful fundraising machine.

I received this e-mail from Obama's campaign: "I'm proud to tell you that, after the first quarter of the campaign, we've exceeded all of our hopes and expectations. In less than three months, a staggering 100,000 Americans have contributed to our cause -- tens of thousands more than the number reported by any other campaign. That's on top of the hundreds of thousands who have attended rallies, started groups and shared their ideas and energy."

What was a surprise is that former MA Gov. Mitt Romney also raised about the same amount, coming seemingly out of nowhere to raise the most of Republicans. It is reported that a large amount of his donations are from Mormon groups. Help us.

Clinton: Meet 1984

A mysterious 1984 spin with Clinton has hit YouTube and taken off. Obama says he had never seen it before it was released and had no part of it, and I truly believe that. An unofficial AOL poll asked if people thought Obama knew about it before it aired, and 39,122 people responded. Of these respondents, 44 percent said no, 32 percent said yes and 23 said it was hard to say. AOL also polled as to whether the video would affect Obama campaign, and 38,713 people responded. Fifty percent said no, 39 percent it would affect his campaign negatively and 12 percent said it would affect his campaign positively.

The mystery creator of the Orwellian YouTube ad against Hillary Rodham Clinton is a Democratic operative who worked for a digital consulting firm with ties to rival Sen. Barack Obama.

Philip de Vellis, a strategist with Blue State Digital, acknowledged in an interview with The Associated Press that he was the creator of the video, which portrayed Clinton as a Big Brother figure and urged support for Obama's presidential campaign.

De Vellis said he resigned from the firm on Wednesday after he learned that he was about to be unmasked by the HuffingtonPost.com., a liberal news and opinion Internet site.

Blue State designed Obama's Web site and one of the firm's founding members, Joe Rospars, took a leave from the company to work as Obama's director of new media.

"It's true ... yeah, it's me," de Vellis said Wednesday evening.
He said he produced the ad outside of work and that neither Blue State nor the Obama campaign was aware of his role in the ad.

"But it raises some eyebrows, so I thought it best that I resign and not put them in that position."

In a statement released Wednesday evening, the Obama campaign said:

"The Obama campaign and its employees had no knowledge and had nothing to do with the creation of the ad. We were notified this evening by a vendor of ours, Blue State Digital, that an employee of the company had been involved in the making of this ad. Blue State Digital has separated ties with this individual and we have been assured he did no work on our campaign's account."

The Clinton campaign had no immediate comment.

The connection to the Obama camp, however, poses a public relations problem for the campaign. Obama has argued that he is a different type of presidential candidate who rejects negative politics.

The ad was guerrilla politics at its cleverest and had become the boffo hit of the YouTube Web site.

The 74-second clip, a copy of a 1984 Apple ad for its Macintosh computer, has recorded nearly 1.5 million views, with an enormous surge in the past two days. The video's final image reads "BarackObama.com."

De Vellis remained hidden for weeks, protected by the anonymity afforded by YouTube and the absence of federal regulations governing most Internet political speech.

The ad portrayed Clinton on a huge television screen addressing robotic humans in a stark, futuristic hall. A female athlete tosses a hammer at the screen, destroying Clinton's image with an explosive flash. Then this text: "On January 14th the Democratic primary will begin. And you will see why 2008 isn't going to be like '1984.'"

De Vellis said he used footage of an updated Apple ad that portrayed the female athlete wearing an iPod. He said he used standard Apple equipment to modify the video and edit Clinton's image into the clip.

Obama, appearing on CNN's "Larry King Live" Monday night, said his campaign knew nothing about the origins of the anti-Clinton ad.

"Frankly, given what it looks like, we don't have the technical capacity to create something like this," he said. "It's pretty extraordinary."

Shift to Obama

There has been a recent noticeable shift in sentiment among African American voters, who little more than a month ago heavily supported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton but now favor the candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama.

Clinton continues to lead Obama and other rivals in the Democratic contest, according to the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll. But her once-sizable margin over the freshman senator from Illinois was sliced in half during the past month largely because of Obama's growing support among black voters.

The question is now whether others who have typically supported either Clinton will also shift their support...