The male Democratic presidential candidates finally seem to have begun exploiting Sen. Hillary Clinton’s weakness. It’s about time.
They have pointed it out from time to time before, but in last night’s debate they attacked, and they definitely left her wounded. When she refused to give a straight answer on whether she supported New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, her opponents pounced. There’s a good review of the exchange here.
Clinton refuses to give straight answers on many questions. I’m convinced that’s one reason she leads in the polls. She tells people what they want to hear. She’s far more skilled at this than John Kerry was. If her opponents want to beat her, they have to call her on this at every available opportunity.
If you ever saw the 1977 animated film version of Tolkien’s “The Hobbit,” you might remember the scene where the lake men are able to defeat the great dragon Smaug only because Bilbo discovers that Smaug is missing a scale on his chest. Well, at this point in the Dem. nomination contest, Hillary is Smaug. She’s seemingly all-powerful, but there is a weakness that could bring her down if only her opponents would fire at it. They’re finally firing at it. They need to keep the salvos going, non-stop, if they hope to deliver the fatal blow.
Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign released its list of New Hampshire Educators for Obama today, and I though it was interesting that there are only three from the state’s largest city — and largest school district.
The list includes five from Londonderry, six from Concord and 12 from Durham, but only three from Manchester. Obama signed as many teachers from Manchester as he did from Hopkinton.
This might be nothing, or it might be further indication that his support is broadest in high-education, liberal-leaning communities like Durham and Concord and thinnest in blue-collar communities like Manchester.
In an interview yesterday, Mitt Romney said that although he generally wants the federal government to stay out of education, No Child Left Behind was necessary to rescue public schools from the teachers unions.
“I do not favor Washington getting involved in education,” he said, particularly in such things as setting curricula.
However, “The federal government needed to act to rein in the power of the teachers unions, and the way to do that was with testing.”
By setting standards for test results, NCLB was able to do what states could not do because the unions, which oppose high standards, have such a firm grip on local and state education establishments, he said.
He added that he does not think the unions have deliberately tried to harm children, just that as organizations they have become so focused on protecting their members that they have lost sight of their members’ real goal, which is to educate students.
Ted Kennedy supported NCLB for a different reason, Romney said. Teddy just wanted more federal money for Massachusetts. He turned against the bill when the amount of money he anticipated didn’t materialize.
Excluded from tonight’s Democratic candidate debate, Mike Gravel is going to debate the television — live, on stage. Really.
“Senator Gravel will be speaking at the World Café Live (3025 Walnut St. in Philadelphia) at an alternate Democratic Debate,” a press release has just announced.
“Participants will have the opportunity to watch the debate with the Senator and listen to his views as the evening unfolds. Afterward, the Senator will take questions from the audience until midnight.
“The entire event will be broadcast and streamed through the Gravel2008.us web site live from The World Cafe starting at 8:30pm ET.”
The ever conspiratorial Gravel suggests some sort of plot to keep him out of the debate.
“After originally making arrangements to include all the Democratic candidates, MSNBC (owned by General Electric) reversed itself and created questionable criteria apparently devised to exclude the most outspoken critic of the military-industrial complex. Despite having met all but the most arbitrary fundraising requirements, Senator Gravel has been shut out of the debate.”
Well, when you go criticizing the military-industrial complex, you’re going to draw the attention of the black helicopters. If Sen. Gravel doesn’t show up for his alternate debate, call Lyndon Larouche. He’ll want to know.
Sen. Chris Dodd understands the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, but he doesn’t get Halloween. Today his campaign issued a press release urging parents to dress their children as Chris Dodd on Halloween night.
Perhaps he was prompted by today’s AP story reporting that Sen. Hillary Clinton was the top choice when Americans were asked which presidential candidate would make the scariest Halloween costume. But that’s not a compliment, unless you consider it a compliment that people are simply thinking about you at all regardless of whether they think well or ill of you. (Giuliani came in second, by the way, which I told him today. He laughed and said, well, he already has his Halloween costume on, then.)
Dodd’s press release is, of course, tongue in cheek. And hey, it got me to write about Chris Dodd, so it wasn’t an entirely worthless idea. But the point of a Halloween costume is to be scary (or ironic, if you’re an adult), so it’s kind of odd to suggest that people dress as you for Halloween. I wonder if his staffers will go as him to costume parties this week. If they do, will anyone be able to identify the costume?
Here’s Dodd’s press release:
Today, the Chris Dodd for President Campaign came to the aid of parents and children across New Hampshire who are still struggling to find the perfect costume for Halloween. The campaign released the following directions for the Chris Dodd Halloween costume.
“Every year, parents and their children struggle to find that perfect Halloween costume,” said Dodd spokesman Bryan DeAngelis. “We wanted to do our part to help by providing them with the option of going as the one candidate who has the proven leadership, record of results, and bold ideas that we need in our next President - Chris Dodd.”
Required Materials and Instructions for the Chris Dodd Halloween Costume:
White Hair - Use hair color to turn your hair into a bright white just like Chris Dodd’s.
* The white hair represents the seven years and two presidential vetoes that Chris Dodd had to work through to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act. It also represents the 26 years on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee where Chris Dodd has been involved in every major foreign policy decision over the last quarter century. A fluent Spanish speaker, Dodd personally met with world leaders to help resolve conflicts in Latin America. In addition, he worked closely with Senator Ted Kennedy and President Bill Clinton to help facilitate the Good Friday Peace Accords that brought peace to Northern Ireland.
A Passion for Service
* As a young man, inspired by President Kennedy, Chris Dodd joined the Peace Corps in 1966 and served for two years working in a rural village in the Dominican Republic, where he became fluent in Spanish, before going on to serve his nation in the National Guard and Army Reserves.
A copy of the Constitution
* Chris Dodd carries a copy of the constitution with him everyday. As a Senator he has fought tirelessly to restore the constitution and roll back the Bush Administration assault on the rule of law. As President, the first thing he will do in January 2009 is restore the constitution, restore the rights of Habeus Corpus, and restore America’s Moral Authority.
A folder with literature about Dodd’s bold ideas
* Whether the issue is Iraq, restoring America’s standing in the world, driving down health care costs, fixing our schools, or building an economy that works for all Americans, Chris Dodd is offering bold, innovative ideas because he knows half-measures won’t get the job done.
* A few of Dodd’s bold ideas to mention:
1. A corporate carbon tax that would punish polluters and spur the innovation of environmentally friendly technology.
2. Free community college for all Americans.
3. The American Community Initiative - a comprehensive national service plan that will draw upon the very best of our character to call Americans to service.
Now that both parties in Iowa are going to caucus on Jan. 3, New Hampshire can hold its primaries on Jan. 8 and still comply with state law. It’s no secret that Secretary of State Bill Gardner would much prefer to do that than go in December. What’s stopping him? Michigan.
Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan so despises New Hampshire’s “self-appointed dominance” that he has been doing what he can to get his state to move to Jan. 8 from the all-but-decided-upon date of Jan. 15. The decision of Iowa Democrats to caucus on Jan. 3 creates a big problem for Levin.
Until now he could cast New Hampshire as the self-centered holdout. But with Jan. 8 opened by the Iowa Democrats’ move, it will be Levin who looks like the self-centered crybaby if he pushes his state to move up a week just to spite New Hampshire when a perfectly acceptable schedule is available that puts Michigan just a week behind New Hampshire.
You can get World Series tickets just by going to the ticket window at Fenway Park on game night.
“We always have tickets available, be it the regular season, the playoffs or the World Series,” Red Sox spokesman John Blake told the Boston Herald, which reported that as some fans bought scalped tickets last night others just went to the box office and got tickets there.
Well, maybe the Rockies will win a few games and there’ll be a couple more World Series games here.
Eh, probably not.
The Washington Post has a short video interview with Red Arrow diners. The Post asks what they think about having the New Hampshire primary in December. They don’t like it. (But I bet they like the blue plate special.)
to put up yard signs. Or so says this NH Craigslist ad:
“We are looking for willing and able people to put up yard signs all over the state. This is privet effort to support Mike Grave we plan on signing the state with 2000 sign by the end of the month so let get to it. (we have five people already and we are looking for another 10) What we are looking for is people who have door to door experience and or feel that the comfortable asking people if the may put up a sign to support Mr Gravel for President. We want people with trucks because we have 4×8 signs we want to get up.. (also 2X2 and 2×4) a digital camera is a necessity to so us your good work. also gps is plus.”
Red Sox fan Chris Dodd zings Rudy Giuliani on Rudy’s decision to root for the Sox in the World Series:
“Every true Red Sox fan knows that being a fan means more than just rooting for the Red Sox to win, it means also rooting for the Yankees to lose. I am glad to see that Mayor Giuliani has seen the error of his ways and converted to Red Sox Nation, however, if the situation were reversed I would be strongly supporting the National League team over the Yankees.”
“A good day is when the Red Sox win; a great day is when the Yankees lose; and a perfect day is when the Red Sox win and the Yankees lose.”
Ouch.
Rudy Giuliani’s rooting for the Red Sox is the biggest presidential candidate sports goof I know of. But there have been others. Sen. Clinton saying she’d root for both the Cubs and the Yankees in the World Series being one. Another was made by Mitt Romney during a stop in Iowa. It got very little attention. He was signing autographs after an event and he didn’t recognize the song playing over the loudspeakers. He should have recognized the song. If you can name it, I’ve got two tickets to this Saturday’s UNH/Rhode Island football game for you.
And by the way, the last box of Halloween candy goes to Edward Vale of John Edwards’ campaign, who knew that Gene Hackman played the blind man in Young Frankenstein. Hackman improvised the best line in the scene (I’m going from memory here): “A stranger! (pats chest) A very large stranger.”
Speaking of ridding Times Square of smut peddlers: “I took a city that was known for pornography, and licked it, to a large extent.”
