Hillary Lost

Two different focus groups, one from CNN, as well as one from FoxNews, conclude that Hillary came in third in today's Des Moines Register Democratic debate.

The CNN group said Edwards won:

In interviews conducted immediately after Thursday's Des Moines Register debate, most of the 23 undecided Democratic voters surveyed said they thought former Sen. John Edwards came out on top ­ and said he would get their vote if the election were held today.

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois placed second in a focus group conducted by CNN when asked who would get their vote, and Sen. Hillary Clinton was the third choice.

Frank Luntz’s Fox News focus group also had Hillary in third place behind Edwards and Obama:



The big loser is Hillary. As David Yepsen put it:

Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John Edwards — all had excellent afternoons. But nothing happened to knock Obama off his stride. Since he leads in the polls in Iowa, the event still leaves him ahead in the contest.

The vaunted Hillary juggernaut has hit a proverbial brick wall and there is fury in Hillaryland.

Obama Laughs Last

At the Des Moines Register Democratic debate Hillary and Obama went at each other over Obama's use of Clinton advisors:

Across 90 minutes, the fierce competition between the two Iowa front-runners shone through only once when Obama was asked how he could offer a new type of foreign policy since several of his advisers once worked for President Clinton.

Hillary Clinton laughed out loud at that, and said with a smile, "I'm looking forward to hearing that."

Obama, also smiling, waited for the laughter to die down before saying, "Hillary, I'm looking forward to you advising me as well."

Score one for Obama. He who laughs last . . . .

Huckabee's Willie Horton

Lois Davidson tells her story.



The source of the video is Arkansas Republican, Keith Emis.

Reuters asks:

Will the ghost of Willie Horton haunt the U.S. campaign trail of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee?

As you may recall from the 1988 presidential campaign, Willie Horton was serving life in prison on a murder conviction in Massachusetts and raped a woman in Maryland after he was released in 1986 under a weekend furlough program backed by then-Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Michael Dukakis.

Horton was used by the George H.W. Bush presidential campaign to portray Dukakis as weak on crime.

Wayne Dumond may be Mike Huckabee's Willie Horton:

Dumond was serving a life prison term for raping a 17-year-old cheerleader in Arkansas in 1984. In 1996 his appeals for clemency attracted the attention of Huckabee, a Baptist preacher, after the inmate was said to have found religion.

Dumond gained freedom when paroled by the state's parole board -- with Huckabee's endorsement -- and moved to the Kansas City area in 1999.

Less than a year later, Carol Sue Shields died of suffocation, and Dumond was convicted in her murder.

Huckabee blames the Arkansas state parole board, saying the board made the decision to free Dumond:

"Should this guy have been let out in retrospect? No. But at the time, the parole board in making the decision to let him go, felt it was a prudent decision to make," Huckabee said.

According to Reuters, not everybody remembers it that way:

Former state Rep. Pat Flanagin, a Democrat who fought the release of Dumond said:

Huckabee pressured the parole board to free Dumond despite a personal protest from Stevens, who during a meeting pressed her face close to Huckabee's and said this is how close Dumond was to her for an hour.

"It is even more so (like) Willie Horton, because he was given very ample warning about the guy, about his background, about his previous sexual offenses and a murder he was involved in previously," Flanagin said.

Huckabee had better expect a lot of advertising like the above video. Blaming the parole board isn't going to cut it.

Huckabee Apologizes For His Questionable Question

Republican presidential wannabee Mike Huckabee, apologized to rival Mitt Romney for Huckabee's questionable question contained in an upcoming New York Times Magazine article that appear to disparage the Mormon faith:

"I said, I would never try, ever to try to somehow pick out some point of your faith and make it an issue, and I wouldn't," Huckabee said.

"I've stayed away from talking about Mitt Romney's faith," Huckabee said. "I told him face-to-face, I said I don't think your being a Mormon ought to make you more or less qualified for being a president."

Romney was "gracious" in accepting the apology:

"The governor accepted the apology," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said. "He continues to believe that this campaign should not be about questioning a candidate's faith. While it is fair to criticize an opponent's record or policy positions, it is out of bounds for one candidate to question another's personal faith."

You can watch the following video and see Huckabee's apology.



Huckabee apologized but the damage is done. Huckabee managed to start a dialogue questioning Mormon beliefs.

The Los Angeles Times< reports that Huckabee's quetionable question "dwarfs GOP debate:"

The controversy, which overshadowed a GOP debate here, came less than a week after Romney, who had been leading in Iowa polls, delivered a speech aimed at overcoming any political impediment posed by his membership in the Mormon church.

And it was the latest instance of the newly ascendant Huckabee having to explain his statements now that he is facing closer scrutiny.

[. . .]

Some, however, think Huckabee's comment was not as innocent as he suggested, especially after he ran a TV ad in Iowa in which he discussed faith and the words "Christian Leader" flashed across the screen.

You can count me in the group that thinks Huckabee's questionable question was not an innocent mistake taken out of context. Huckabee's assertion that he Mormon question was taken out of context is well, wrong. I posted the context here. The only thing out of context was Huckabee's insertion of the Mormon question. Like the LA Times I also expressed concern about Huckabee's "CHRISTIAN LEADER" ad, in which Huckabee dealt the religion card he continues to play.

Fred Rebels

The highlight of today’s Des Moines Register Republican Debate was when Fred Thompson led a rebellion against the moderators hand show game.



At a post-debate campaign stop, Republican candidate Fred Thompson explained his reason for refusing to answer a debate question by a show of hands, calling it "monkey business:"

"I just decided that I wasn't going to engage in any of this monkey business that they like to engage us on sometimes -- making us look like trained monkeys reaching for peanut or something ... 30 seconds is brief enough and when they try to reduce your answer to just a hand raise -- I 'aint going to play that game," the former Tennessee senator said.

Candidates have run into difficulties when they have gone along with a moderator's request for a show of hands regarding a complicated question.

Romney Wins

Frank Luntz’s Fox News focus group has Governor Romney winning today’s Des Moines Register Republican Debate.



The loser in in this debate was the moderator, Carolyn Washburn, editor of The Des Moines Register.

Huckabee's Questionable Question

Last night I posted about Huckabee's questioning Mormon beliefs:

Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?

I cautioned that we should wait to see the context in which Huckabee's question was asked.

The context is here:

On the road to Pella, Huckabee talked about the enthusiasm he now encounters everywhere he goes. For example, he said, his driver in California not only declined payment but also wrote the governor a $50 personal check right on the spot. It was, I thought, a dangerous anecdote to tell within earshot of a professional driver traveling along an icy highway at high speed, but Huckabee was feeling invulnerable, and the driver, I later realized, was already on the governor’s team. Huckabee normally starts his mornings by running 6 to 10 miles and reading a chapter from the Book of Proverbs. Today he was too pressed to do either, but he planned to catch up later. Anyway, he knew much of the day’s assignment, Chapter 3, by heart. ‘‘Trust in the Lord,’’ he quoted, ‘‘and lean not upon thine own understanding.’’ Not a bad motto for a campaign that is still too broke to do any independent polling.

Chapter 3 also contains the admonition to ‘‘keep sound wisdom and discretion.’’ Huckabee is, indeed, a discreet fellow, but he has no trouble making his feelings known. He mentioned how much he respected his fellow candidates John McCain and Rudolph W. Giuliani. The name of his principal rival in Iowa, Mitt Romney, went unmentioned. Romney, a Mormon, had promised that he would be addressing the subject of his religion a few days later. I asked Huckabee, who describes himself as the only Republican candidate with a degree in theology, if he considered Mormonism a cult or a religion. ‘‘I think it’s a religion,’’ he said. ‘‘I really don’t know much about it.’’

I was about to jot down this piece of boilerplate when Huckabee surprised me with a question of his own: ‘‘Don’t Mormons,’’ he asked in an innocent voice, ‘‘believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?’’

Huckabee didn't walk into a fall into a clever political/religious trap. No, instead the Huckabee volunteered his questionable question, even after admitting that he's not well-versed in LDS theology.

Unfortunately, we can see from the context that Huck went and volunteered his thoughts on this point, even after admitting that he doesn't know what he is talking about when it comes to Mormonism.

When one doesn't know much about what one is talking about, they should remain quiet. The campaign for the Republican presidential nomination should be about ideas that can move the country forward. It should not be about inciting discord over one another's religious beliefs.

Huckabee has put out a statement concerning the article that originally caused me to post about the questionable question:

A report released tonight cites an upcoming article in the Sunday edition of The New York Times Magazine which quotes former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee asking a question about the content of the Mormon faith. In fact, the full context of the exchange makes it clear that Governor Huckabee was illustrating his unwillingness to answer questions about Mormonism and to avoid addressing theological questions during this campaign.

“Governor Huckabee has said consistently that he believes this campaign should center on a discussion of the important issues confronting our nation,” said Senior Advisor, Dr. Charmaine Yoest, “and not focus on questions of religious belief. He wants to assure persons of all faith traditions of his firm commitment to religious tolerance and freedom of worship. Governor Huckabee believes that one of the great strengths of our nation lies in its diversity of thought, opinion and faith.”

Huckabee's That statement can not be squared with Huckabee's questionable question and the context in which is was asked.

Romney retorted to questions about Huckabee's questionable question by declaring that "attacking someone's religion is really going too far:"

"But I think attacking someone's religion is really going too far. It's just not the American way, and I think people will reject that," Romney told NBC's "Today" show.

Asked if he believed Huckabee was speaking in a coded language to evangelicals, Romney praised his rival as a "good man trying to do the best he can," but he added, "I don't believe that the people of this country are going to choose a person based on their faith and what church they go to."

Wasn't that the message Romney tried to deliver last week? Too bad Huckabee didn't listen.

Hillary Loses Lead, Romney Remains In Front

A new WMUR/CNN poll, finds Romney retains comfortable lead in New Hampshire. Mitt Romney is leading with 32 percent, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain both have 19 percent, Mike Huckabee has climbed slightly to 9 percent, and Ron Paul is at 7 percent.

Hillary's 20-point lead has vanished. Hillary now has 31 percent and is in a statistical tie with Barack Obama who has 30 percent. John Edwards is third with 16 percent, and Bill Richardson has slipped slightly to 7 percent.

The poll was conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center over the weekend and is evidence that Oprah's Obama tour may have had an impact.

Haunting Huckabee

Earlier this year, Huckabee said, “Nobody's going to find some YouTube moments of me saying something radically different than what I'm saying today.” Maybe there are no YouTube videos, but the answers Huckabee provided in responding to an Associated Press questionnaire during his first run for political office in 1992 are coming back to haunt him.

During his unsuccessful race against Sen. Dale Bumpers, Huckabee didn't only reject the idea gays in the military, he added:

I believe to try to legitimize that which is inherently illegitimate would be a disgraceful act of government. I feel homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.

Over the weekend, on "FOX News Sunday," Huckabee refused to recant or retract the statement:



Huckabee's questionnaire responses show a harder-edge than Huckabee wants to present today as he tries not to “scare the living daylights” out of moderates and independents.

On other subjects in the questionnaire, Huckabee:

# Called for the elimination of political action committees and campaign contributions from lobbyists. He also said candidates should not be allowed to receive contributions until one year before an election and said there should be limits on the amount of out-of-state money they could accept.

# Rejected the idea of women in combat “because of my strong traditional view that women should be treated with respect and dignity and not subject to the kinds of abuses that could occur in combat.”

# Said living together out of wedlock “is demeaning to the highest expression of human love and commitment. I reject it as an alternate lifestyle, because it robs people of the highest possible relationship one can experience: marriage.”

Like I said a year ago, Huckabee will scare the living daylights out of a lot of moderates of both parties. That perception may help explain why Democrat party officials are avoiding any and all criticism of Huckabee.

Huckabee Asks If Mormons Believe Jesus, Devil Are Brothers

The Associated Press reports Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, questions Mormons' belief.

In an article to be published in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, Huckabee asks:

Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?

According to the AP, Huckabee asked the question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn't know much about it.

We will have to wait until the weekend to see if the Times Magazine provides some legitimate context for the headline grabbing quote. In the meantime, even though it's hard not to jump to the conclusion that Huckabee is questioning Mormons beliefs, we should give Huckabee the benefit of the doubt, or at least an opportunity to explain.

It is possible that Huckabee managed to fall into a clever political/religious trap. It is also possible that he was trying to set such a trap. It seems highly unlikely that Huckabee would engage in such a dirty trick as the Huckaboom continues to gain momentum.

I'm sure the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can adequately defend Mormon beliefs while we wait.

Biden Boasts Of Experience

Delaware Democratic senator Joe Biden, who has been in office since 1972 and is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations, boasts of his experience:

"Being president is not the same thing as running for president," he says in the spot.

He then goes on to say that the squabbling about "experience" and "change," which has consumed the campaigns of the leading Democrats -- Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards -- is about meaningless political slogans.

[. . .]

"You don't have to guess what I'll do as president," he says in the ad. "Just look at what I've done."

With his new ad, Biden becomes the last of the six Democratic campaigns in Iowa to advertise on TV. I fear it's too little, much too late.

Americans See Progress In Iraq

A new Associated Press-Ipsos poll finds people think the U.S. is making progress in Iraq, 52 percent to 41 percent. In September 2006, the AP-Ipsos poll fond 56 percent said the U.S. was losing ground.

In another sign of a gradually more positive view 42 percent now think history will judge the war to be a success. In September, only 34 percent said it would be considered successful.

Recent Gallup polling found that even though Americans remain negative about the status of the war right now, the vast majority believe Iraq will be better off in the long run -- 71% say the country will be better off as a result of the U.S. invasion, while 24% say it will be worse off. These results are similar to those measured last year.

There remains a huge partisan divide on what to do about Iraq: The vast majority of Republicans say the troops should stay until the job is done or until the United States wins, while Democrats say the troops should be removed immediately or as soon as possible.

Huckabee Kerries Cuba

Huckabee Was For Trade With Cuba Before He Was Against It.

Now that he is running for president and is no longer governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee has decided to change his mind about the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba:

As governor of Arkansas five years ago, Mike Huckabee joined a bipartisan chorus of politicians who concluded that the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba was bad for businesses. Now that he's a top-tier candidate for president, Huckabee has decided he favors the embargo -- so much so that he vowed Monday to outdo even President Bush in strangling the regime of Cuban President Fidel Castro and punishing those who do business there.

Huckabee admits his Kerry -like flip-flop on Cuba is all about political expediency:

"Rather than seeing it as some huge change, I would call it, rather, the simple reality that I'm running for president of the United States, not for reelection as governor of Arkansas," he said. "I've got to look at this as an issue that touches the whole country."

Watch the following video where he explains his change of mind on the Hannity & Colmes show.



According to the Los Angeles Times, Huckabee's 2002 letter reportedly argued that the embargo "continues to harm our own agricultural and business interests here at home and has certainly not helped the people of Cuba." Now in a successful effort to obtain an endorsement from Marco Rubio, Florida's Cuban American state House speaker, Huckabee takes the opposite view vowing to veto any effort to end the sanctions:

Huckabee pledged to adhere to provisions of a 1996 law that would permit U.S. citizens to sue in American courts for property taken from them during the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Those lawsuits could threaten European businesses with holdings on the island. Bush and President Clinton have routinely avoided conflict on the issue by suspending those provisions of the 1996 law.

"I really wasn't that aware of a lot of the issues that exist between Cuba and the United States," Huckabee said Monday, adding that his flexibility on policy should be viewed as a good thing.

How could Huckabee be unaware these issues?

Unfortunately, Huckabee's Cuban Flip-flop, has all the political expediency of Huckabee's new immigration plan, designed to counter the criticism that Huckabee has supported in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants.

Dodd Introduces Himself

Even though Chris Dodd served as a Democratic Congressman from Connecticut from 1975 until 1981, a U.S. Senator from 1981 until the present, served as general chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1995 to 1997, and announced his bid for the White House on the Don Imus radio show back in January, he has decided to introduce himself.



Much more than a day late and a dollar short.

I was taken aback by Dodd's claim to be the only veteran among the Democratic presidential. It's true, if you don't consider Mike Gravel a candidate. Dodd served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1969 until 1975.

Romney Battles Huckabee Surge

To combat Mike Huckabee's surge in recent polls, Mitt Romney is airing a "contrast" ad in Iowa on illegal immigration.

The ad begins by highlighting the similarities shared by Romney and Huckabee on the life and marriage issues:

"Two former governors . . . two good family men . . . both pro-life . . . both support a constitutional amendment protecting traditional marriage," says the ad's narrator.

The ad then argues that the real difference between Romney and Huckabee is on illegal immigration.

It specifically targets Huckabee for having supported in-state tuition benefits as well as taxpayer-funded scholarships for the children of illegal immigrants.

In an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson, Romney compared the Huckabee "surge" to previous surges and predicted like the McCain surge, the Giuliani surge, and the Fred Thompson surge, the Huckabee surge would eventually deflate:

And in the past, what's happened is, when the surge occurs, people look more closely at the record of the vision of the person running . . . and inevitably the surge kinda deflates. I think you will see the same thing here; I sure hope so.

Romney's contrast ad hit the airwaves shortly after Huckabee launched his own immigration ad, which calls for "no amnesty," building a border fence, and "doing it now."



The ad and Huckabee's new immigration plan are designed to counter the criticism that Huckabee has supported in-state tuition for the children of illegal immigrants.

Even if immigration is a hotter issue than Iraq, it's going to take more than Romney's the new contrast ad to deflate the Huckabee surge.

Bill Clinton Continues Effort To Rewrite History

Former President Clinton tried to clarify his recent unbelievable claim that he was against the Iraq war "from the beginning." On the CBS program "The Early Show" he changed his story. He now wants you to believe he always said United Nations weapons inspectors should have been given more time to complete their work in Iraq prior an invasion:

Had the inspectors been given that time, Mr. Clinton told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith Monday, "There would have been no war."

But Mr. Clinton remarked to Smith Monday that he's said "a hundred times" that the weapons inspectors needed more time on the ground. "Nobody ever said it before because everybody who knows what was going on and knows me knows that I was trying to get even a new U.N. resolution passed," the former president said. "I was involved with an effort behind the scenes to talk to some people around the world to try to see if we could get another resolution passed to give (the inspectors) some more time."

"I supported threatening Saddam so we could do the inspections, but I believe -- I even believe the Senate resolution, if you read it, said that the force was authorized if the diplomatic efforts -- i.e. -- the inspections -- failed."

"The mistake we made was not letting the inspections finish. If they had, there would have been no war. And i was always against doing it without the inspections."

"Now, after Saddam was deposed, the united nations' position was we should all do what we can to make it work, and everybody was hoping it would. And still, I think we should still hope it works. We should hope those people have a government that's representative and that they can work out their oil deals and their conflicts and go on to a better life."

"But I believe it was a serious error to go in there before the inspectors finished. And as you (Smith) pointed out, most of my speeches weren't getting covered by the press, and we didn't copy them or anything back then. But we do have several records, including one six days before the invasion where I said I don't think they should do this until the inspections finished. That was the deal."

"And if we had done it, there would have been no war."

First of all there is a big difference between Clinton's claim to have been against the war "from the beginning," and his new story that thought we invaded too soon. This Washington Post report undermines Mr. Clinton's absurd statements:

Hillary Mann Leverett, at the time the White House director of Persian Gulf affairs, said that Rice and Elliott Abrams, then National Security Council senior director for Near East and North African affairs, met with Clinton several times in the months before the March 2003 invasion to answer any questions he might have. She said she was "shocked" and "astonished" by Clinton's remarks this week, made to voters in Iowa, because she has distinct memories of Abrams "coming back from those meetings literally glowing and boasting that 'we have Clinton's support.' "

Leverett, a former career foreign service officer who said she is not involved in any presidential campaign, said the incident affected her because of her own doubts about the wisdom of an attack. "To hear President Clinton was supportive really silenced whatever questions I had," she recalled. Leverett, who worked in the same office as Abrams at the time, said Rice and Abrams "made it a high priority" to get Clinton's support, meeting with him at least twice. Abrams was tasked to answer Clinton's questions and "took the responsibility very seriously," Leverett said. "Elliott was then very focused on making sure that we followed up on Clinton's questions to keep Clinton happy and on board."

As to the former president's claim that he has said this nonsense "a hundred times," if that were true, should there not be dozens of references to a statement repeated so many times? Where are those references?

A review of previous remarks by Mr. Clinton reveal that, among other things, he said in May 2003, "I supported the president (Bush) when he asked for authority to stand up against weapons of mass destruction in Iraq." I posted additional references of Mr. Clinton saying he supported the war last month.

We also shouldn't forget how Saddam relentlessly frustrated United Nations' inspection efforts:

"The U.N. orders its weapons inspectors to leave Iraq after the chief inspector reports Baghdad is not fully cooperating with them."
--Sheila MacVicar, ABC World News This Morning, 12/16/98

"The Iraq story boiled over last night when the chief U.N. weapons inspector, Richard Butler, said that Iraq had not fully cooperated with inspectors and--as they had promised to do. As a result, the U.N. ordered its inspectors to leave Iraq this morning"
--Katie Couric, NBC's Today, 12/16/98

"The chief U.N. weapons inspector ordered his monitors to leave Baghdad today after saying that Iraq had once again reneged on its promise to cooperate--a report that renewed the threat of U.S. and British airstrikes."
--AP, 12/16/98

"The United Nations once again has ordered its weapons inspectors out of Iraq. Today's evacuation follows a new warning from chief weapons inspector Richard Butler accusing Iraq of once again failing to cooperate with the inspectors. The United States and Britain repeatedly have warned that Iraq's failure to cooperate with the inspectors could lead to air strikes."
--Bob Edwards, NPR, 12/16/98

"Immediately after submitting his report on Baghdad's noncompliance, Butler ordered his inspectors to leave Iraq."
--Los Angeles Times, 12/17/98

"This is the second time in a month that UNSCOM has pulled out in the face of a possible U.S.-led attack. But this time there may be no turning back. Weapons inspectors packed up their personal belongings and loaded up equipment at U.N. headquarters after a predawn evacuation order. In a matter of hours, they were gone, more than 120 of them headed for a flight to Bahrain."
--Jane Arraf, CNN, 12/16/98

"Butler abruptly pulled all of his inspectors out of Iraq shortly after handing Annan a report yesterday afternoon on Baghdad's continued failure to cooperate with UNSCOM, the agency that searches for Iraq's prohibited weapons of mass destruction."
-- Newsday, 12/17/98

"As Washington debates when and how to attack Iraq, a surprise offer from Baghdad. It is ready to talk about re-admitting U.N. weapons inspectors after kicking them out four years ago."
--Maurice DuBois, NBC's Saturday Today, 8/3/02

Ron Paul Rejects Libertarians

Republican presidential wannabe Ron Paul, rejects the Libertarian nomination:

At a meeting in Charleston, S.C., the Libertarian National Committee on Sunday unanimously approved a resolution praising the Lake Jackson congressman for igniting "a renewed passion for liberty across America."

[. . .]

But Paul spokesman Jesse Benton said it would not happen.

"Ron has no intention to run third party whatsoever," he said.

Paul was the Libertarian presidential candidate in 1988. He received only 430,000 votes. Maybe the blimp will improve his performance as a Republican candidate.

Hillary's A Porker

Hillary has earmarked more than $2.3 billion in federal appropriations for projects in her state:

Since taking office in 2001, Clinton has delivered $500 million worth of earmarks that have specifically benefitted 59 corporations. About 64% of those corporations provided funds to her campaigns through donations made by employees, executives, board members or lobbyists, a review by the Los Angeles Times shows.

[. . .]

Clinton is not the biggest earmarker in Congress; senior congressional leaders and members of the appropriations committees can and do write many more such provisions into the huge spending bills they draft. But Clinton does significantly more earmarking than most others with her relatively low level of seniority.

Among the presidential candidates Hillary is in a class by herself:

Her record stands in contrast with others in the Senate seeking the presidency, particularly John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.). McCain, who has long opposed earmarks, does not write them. Obama has used the device, but now declines to earmark funds for private companies; he uses earmarks only to secure funds for government projects such as road building and hospital construction. Other senators seeking the presidency provide earmarks to home-state constituents and collect donations from recipients of the federal largesse. But The Times review found that Clinton does it on a different scale.

This is another example of Democratic hypocrisy and why the voters desire for change will hurt Hillary's candidacy:

Democrats made earmark reform a priority when they took over Congress in January. The Senate passed rules making it easier to identify the authors of the once-secretive practice.

Clinton supported those basic reforms, but she and other Democratic senators running for president balked at a proposal by Obama that would have required members to disclose their proposed earmark requests, not just those that were enacted into law.

Hillary can't have it both ways. She can't support earmark reform and continue to be one of the biggest porkers.

Tired Of Politics As Usual

Oprah Winfrey campaigned for Barack Obama on Saturday, telling the audience at a packed arena in Des Moines, Iowa, that she is "so tired" of the status quo in Washington:

"You know I've never done this before and it feels like I'm out of my pew," Winfrey told the crowd. "I'm nervous."

Without mentioning Obama's chief rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), by name, Winfrey made a vigorous case against her. Winfrey said she is concerned that "if we continued to do the same things over and over and over again, I know that you get the same results."

You can watch the entire speech in the following videos.





Conventional wisdom says that endorsements don't matter. Oprah's support of Obama just might demonstrate that conventional wisdom isn't always right. Oprah's "so tired" of the status quo theme is a play on Iowa polls finding that Iowa Democrats are tilting toward change over experience and leadership.

Rudy Discusses Polls And Campaign Strategy With Russert

Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani was engaged in a brawl with host, Tim Russert. The show started off with a relatively friendly discussion about recent polls and Rudy's campaign strategy:

MR. RUSSERT: Let’s go right to it. Mason-Dixon, MSNBC have done some polling. First the Democrats, just to share with our viewers and give you a sense of that race. Here’s Iowa: Hillary Clinton, 27; Obama is 25; Edwards, 21--three-way dead race. New Hampshire, Clinton ahead by just three. South Carolina, Clinton over Obama by three. And the Nevada caucus, which is September 19th—November—excuse me, January 19th, Clinton, 34; Obama, 26.

Now the Republicans. Here they are, Iowa: Huckabee, 32; Romney, 20; Thompson, 11; McCain, 7; Giuliani, 5. Fifth place, is that a problem?

MR. GIULIANI: I wish you had shown Florida. It would—it would have—it would have looked better, where we have an 18-point lead. There are, there are some polls we’re behind, some where we’re ahead. I think there are 21, 22, 23 primaries and caucuses going up to February 5th. I think we’re ahead in 16, 18 of them. I don’t expect to win all of them. We’re going to work real hard in every single one of them, maybe surprise some people in Iowa, maybe in New Hampshire, work real hard there. South Carolina, Michigan, Nevada. Then we get to Florida, where I think the latest poll was 16 to 18-point lead, and we’ve had a lead there of that magnitude pretty much throughout. Every once in a while it slipped back to like seven or eight.

MR. RUSSERT: But in fifth place in Iowa, would it be better for you if Huckabee beat Romney in Iowa? Wouldn’t that be helpful?

MR. GIULIANI: The best thing is if you win. That’s the very best thing.

MR. RUSSERT: But that...

MR. GIULIANI: Who knows. Who knows. I—you’ve been through so many of these, Tim. You know that no candidate has won all the primaries in a, in a hotly contested one. This is one in which that’s not very conceivable, given all the good candidates there are. So if we can win a couple at the beginning, you know; win Florida for sure. We go into February 5th, then, ahead in New York, Illinois, California, New Jersey, Connecticut. We’re actually ahead right now, I believe, in Missouri. Kit Bond’s endorsement probably helped there more than me. But the reality is we’ve got, we’ve got a lead probably in, like, 15 of the 20 on February 5th, Florida, and we’re competitive. But we’ve got a long way to go in some of them. So we’re going to see. We’re going to work real hard.

MR. RUSSERT: Here’s New Hampshire: Romney’s ahead of—as you can see, 25; Giuliani, 17; McCain, 16. South Carolina: Huckabee is ahead 20; Giuliani, 17; Romney, 15. And Nevada, we’ll show you Nevada: Giuliani is ahead 25, 20, 17.

MR. GIULIANI: Now do Florida. Do Florida.

MR. RUSSERT: We, we haven’t done Florida. But we’ll, we’ll get there eventually.

MR. GIULIANI: No, but you look, you look at South Carolina, that’s, that’s a good place to be for someone who has, you know, campaigned all over the country. We haven’t concentrated on any one state. We’ve kind of had a proportionate campaign all over. Some of the candidates have concentrated on a state. We got a real good organization in South Carolina. That’s a very competitive place to be.

MR. RUSSERT: But if you lose...

MR. GIULIANI: New Hampshire.

MR. RUSSERT: ...Iowa, if you lose Iowa and New Hampshire, South Carolina, you’re still in?

MR. GIULIANI: I’m, I’m, I’m in, all right? The idea is you want to win the first one. If you lose the first one, you want to win the second one. If you lose the second one, you want to win the third one. And you want to be there for, you know, Florida, at the end of the month, big state. And you want to be there, certainly, for February 5th when we’re going to have more primaries on one day than we’ve ever had in our history. And some real big states, you know, New York, Illinois, California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn to some important issues first.

MR. GIULIANI: Oh, and Michigan is in there, too. We shouldn’t miss Michigan is in there in January.

You can watch the discussion in the following video:




Rudy has a point. The race for the presidential campaign is wide open and theoretically Rudy can wait until Florida for his first win. But the dynamics and the polls will change as voters start to pick their favorites in the caucuses and primaries. The winners always get a big boost from the ensuing press coverage. Forida may be too long to wait.