What to watch for in Wisconsin

Hillary Clinton goes into the Wisconsin primary having won the last news cycle of the campaign, something that she hasn’t done in a while. Indeed, in the last 48 hours the stars have rather aligned for Hillary: bad weather forced her to stay in the state and campaign rather than skip out early, the plagiarism charge garnered considerable press coverage and Michelle Obama rather put her foot in it. These events have given Hillary her best chance since Super Tuesday to slow Obama’s momentum.

The polling in Wisconsin is...

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McCain and Hillary tag-team Obama

Both John McCain and Hillary Clinton are using the same playbook against Barack Obama, trying to make voters see him as just another politician. The McCain camp started this with McCain’s challenge to Obama to stay within the public financing system for the general election, something which Obama had previously stated he was inclined to do but would now see him throw away a huge fundraising advantage. This is a win-win for McCain as if Obama backs away from his previous commitment McCain can hammer him for that while if Obama...

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No getting away from Obama mania for President Bush

President Bush is on tour in Africa at the moment highlighting the under appreciated achievements of his administration there. But even on another continent there is no getting away from the President’s lame duck status as Ann Compton of ABC reports via Mike Allen’s Playbook: "

When President Bush landed today in rural Arusha, Tanzania, in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro, he was greeted by Masai tribal dancers, hundreds of cheering Africans lining the - and three people, standing apart, waving OBAMA signs."

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The three things McCain's number two needs to do

Normally a VP pick needs to do one thing. John Kerry picked John Edwards as he needed to extend his reach both geographically and socially. Dick Cheney was George W. Bush’s choice because he reassured voters that there would be someone who knew how it all worked to show Dubya the ropes. Al Gore went for Joe Lieberman as he needed to put distance between himself and the Lewinsky affair and Lieberman had been the first Democrat to condemn Clinton’s behaviour. But McCain’s VP ideally needs to fulfil three criteria. First, he or...

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Senior class politics

Much has been made of how Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would both be historic firsts as president. But so would John McCain: he’d be the oldest president ever inaugurated for a first term. McCain boosters, understandably, don’t shout about this from the roof tops. But there is reason to think based on the Republican primaries that he has special appeal to elderly voters in the way that Obama does to African-Americans and Clinton to women even if the effect is less pronounced in McCain's case. 

McCain’s support among seniors...

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Mistakes, mistakes

If you want to get a grasp of just how drastically the Clintons misjudged the primary process, consider this: The Clinton campaign did not put a ground operation in place in the post Super Tuesday states because they were so confident that it would all be over by then. This misplaced confidence has also allowed Barack Obama to enter into the final stretch with the money and advertising edge going. In the nine days after Super Tuesday he outspent the Clintons on TV by more than $5 million.

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Convention Wisdom

The nightmare for the Democratic Party is that their nominating process goes all the way to the convention where the unelected super delegates throw the contest to the candidate with fewer votes, delegates and victories than their opponent. There are, though, already moves under way to stop this happening. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House, has urged super delegates not to subvert the will of voters while The New York Times reports that Al Gore and three of the candidates who have already dropped out of the race have been...

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A Bushie for Obama?

Michael Gerson, the former presidential speechwriter who enjoyed a mind-meld with President Bush, obviously doesn’t share his old boss’s barely concealed preference for Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama. His column in today’s Washington Post is a scathing assessment of Hillary’s campaign strategy and character. Here’s how it ends:

“Though it is increasingly unlikely, Clinton may still have a path to the nomination -- and what a path it is. She merely has to puncture the balloon of Democratic idealism; sully the character of a good man; feed racial tensions within her party; then eke out a win with the support of unelected superdelegates, thwarting the hopes of millions of new voters who would see an inspiring young man defeated by backroom arm-twisting and arcane party rules.

Unlikely -- but it would be a fitting contribution to the Clinton legacy of monumental selfishness.”

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What happens when a campaign doesn't pay its rent

There’s a hilarious little story in the local New Hampshire press today about how a landlord who was late in being paid his rent by the Clinton campaign has now got hold of his money and donated it to Obama. Terry Bennett had rented out his store front to some Clinton workers for the five days before the primary at $100 a day. However, he did not receive payment promptly and was ticked off by the fact that the building was left in a terrible state. The danger for the Clintons is that this could lead to a whole slew of stories about firms waiting to be paid. 

Hat Tip: Ben Smith

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A rare bright spot for Hillary

The Clinton meltdown storyline is in full swing. The Wall Street Journal has a blow by blow account of a bitter row between Clinton advisors, James Carville—the star of Bill’s 1992 campaign who is still extremely close to the Clinton camp—has declared that Hillary is toast if she doesn’t win both Texas and Ohio while the Obama camp is spinning that in terms of delegates, Hillary can’t catch him now.

There is, however, some good news for Hillary today—which her press office has eagerly blasted out to reporters. Continue reading...

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