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Monday, February 11, 2008
Hillary in the heart of it all on Valentine’s Day
Hillary Clinton, hoping to win delegate-rich Ohio on March 4, will be spending a ton of time in the Buckeye State starting this week.
Her campaign announced Monday that she’ll visit Ohio on Thursday and Friday. Chelsea Clinton will visit the state - specifically, Columbus - on Wednesday and Thursday.
Details on the trip are forthcoming.
Glenn expected to endorse Hillary Clinton
John Glenn, the former astronaut and four-term U.S. senator, is expected to endorse Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president on Tuesday.
Glenn, 86, the first American to orbit the earth and a long-time friend of both Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton, is expected to announce his choice at a Columbus press conference, according to a source close to the Democrats.
Glenn’s expected endorsement comes as both HIllary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama begin focusing on Ohio’s March 4 primary in their battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Also, Clinton plans to campaign in Ohio Thursday and Friday and her daughter Chelsea Clinton is expected to campaign in the state on Wednesday and Thursday, said Isaac Baker, spokesman for the campaign.
Obama is expected in Ohio “soon,” a campaign spokesman said.
More debate over the debate
The latest on the Ohio Democratic presidential candidates’ debate: Hillary Clinton’s communications director Howard Wolfson today reiterated that campaign’s desire not to participate in any debate having anything to do with MSNBC.
That means, for those reading between the lines, no debate in Cleveland on Feb. 26 - a debate that Barack Obama’s campaign had agreed to. But NBC did not return calls Monday on whether or not Clinton has formally withdrawn from the debate.
The Clinton campaign is tweaked over a comment by an MSNBC personality suggesting that Chelsea Clinton, 27, had been “pimped out” by the campaign. Wolfson on Friday called the comments “beneath contempt.”
“I, at this point, can’t envision a scenario where we would continue to engage in debates on that network,” Wolfson said then.
Monday, pressed again on whether the debate was on or off, Wolfson called MSNBC personality David Shuster’s comments part of a “pattern of behavior,” though he did not name names. Shuster was suspended by the network for his comments.
“We had agreed to a CNN debate held in Ohio,” Wolfson said, referring to a debate invitation offered by CNN for Feb. 27. “We have agreed to a debate in Ohio.”
He said there’d been “no change in posture” since Clinton said she does not envision participating in a debate on that network.
“We hope there will be debates,” he said. “We are obviously eager for their to be debates.”
Ohio’s primary is scheduled for March 4.
We’ll update with comments from Obama’s camp as we get it.
Strickland casts ballot; Obama unveils first Ohio ad
Ohio and Texas will be the “firewall that makes it possible” for Sen. HIllary Clinton to win the Democratic presidential nomination and then the presidency, Gov. Ted Strickland said Monday.
Ohio and Texas hold their primaries March 4.
“I think it would be very difficult for her to proceed to eventual victory without winning Ohio. I’m not saying that that’s not possible but I think it would make it much more difficult,” Strickland said after voting absentee at the Franklin County Board of Elections in Columbus.
Meanwhile, Sen. Barack Obama unveiled his first TV ad for Ohio’s Democratic primary. It touts Obama’s health care plan which a campaign press release said “would cover all Ohioans and do more to cut costs than any other candidates’ plan.”
Strickland said “who I voted for is my right as an American citizen to keep secret but I will tell you I’m supporting Sen. Clinton for president so that may give you an idea of who I voted for.”
The governor cast his ballot as part of the Clinton campaign’s effort to promote early voting. In Ohio any voter can vote absentee up to 25 days before the March 4 primary.
