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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > February > 13
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Michelle Obama coming to Columbus, Cincinnati
Michelle Obama is coming to Columbus and Cincinnati on Friday to campaign for her husband, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois. Details will be announced later, the Obama campaign said.
Her visit will mark the Obama campaign’s first Ohio primary stop.
Obama will be campaigning in Ohio the same day that her husband’s rival in the March 4 Democratic presidential primary - Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York - also is stumping in the state. Clinton will be in Lyndhurst, a Cleveland suburb.
Strickland hits Hooters
Buried in Gov. Ted Strickland’s 2007 campaign finance report is a $60 expenditure at Hooters in Santa Monica, Calif.
Ted Strickland, the mild-mannered ordained Methodist minister at Hooters?
“The governor just really likes their wings,” said Alex Goepfert, spokesman for the Ohio Democratic Party.
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Clinton campaign raises maize and blue banner at Ohio State
In case Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign doesn’t know, maize and blue are the colors of the University of Michigan. The University of Michigan is Ohio State’s biggest rival, especially in football.
That’s why it was strange to see a maize and blue - with some white thrown in - banner Wednesday in the background when Chelsea Clinton, Sen. Clinton’s daughter, spoke at Ohio State. The banner said “Hill Blazers Our Voice Our Future.”
Isaac Baker, Clinton campaign spokesman, said those are the colors of the Hillblazers Web site, part of the campaign’s outreach to young voters.
It’ll be interesting to see what colors Barack Obama flies if he visits Ohio State. Ohio State’s colors are scarlet and gray.
Former Clinton campaign manager endorses Obama
David Wilhelm, who ran Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign and later served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, endorsed Barack Obama - not Hillary Clinton - for president on Wednesday.
Wilhelm, who grew up in Athens, has returned to Ohio and is the founder of a venture capital fund that makes investments in businesses in the Appalachian part of Ohio. Obama has momentum, he’d the most electable Democrat in November and he has run the best campaign, said Wilhelm.
“We cannot outexperience John McCain but we can win on change. We should embrace the candidate who owns change, who owns optimism, who owns the future, who owns idealism, who knows that change is his competitive advantage and is prepared to drive that message with discipline and enthusiasm at every opportunity,” Wilhelm said.
He said that Obama has the potential to be a “65 percent president…not a 51 percent president,” capable of putting together a big enough majority to make major changes in the country.
Former Rep. Hall backs Clinton
The Clinton campaign Wednesday formally claimed the endorsement of former U.S. Rep. Tony Hall of Dayton.
They announced it as part of a list of Ohio endorsements that they called their “Ohio Leadership Council. The list also included Montgomery County Commissioner Judy Dodge and former Montgomery County Democratic Party Chair Dennis Lieberman, as well as established Clinton backers Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Cleveland, Gov. Ted Strickland and former U.S. Sen. John Glenn.
Hall said he decided to endorse Clinton months ago in part because the Clintons “have been friends of mine and have been very good to me over the years.”
“There are three qualities I like to see in my president: I like compassion, I like toughness and I like experience, and she has all three of those qualities,” he said.
He said he got to know Sen. Clinton well when she invited him to accompany her to Mother Teresa’s funeral when she was First Lady. The trip was 48 hours in the air and 12 to 15 hours on the ground.
“When you’re on a plane with each other for 48 hours, you get a lot of talking done,” he said.
He said he planned to campaign for Clinton in Ohio for three days before the March 4 primary. “I’ll go wherever they want me to go,” he said. “I suspect they’ll keep me around the Dayton area, but who knows.”
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Clinton campaign says yes to NBC, despite its hesitations
It’s official: The debate is on.
Despite the Clinton campaign’s concerns about an MSNBC personality’s derogatory comments about Chelsea Clinton, the Clinton campaign on Wednesday agreed to participate in a Feb. 26 debate hosted by NBC-WKYC Channel 3 at Cleveland State University.
The Obama campaign has already agreed to participate in the Feb. 26 debate. Clinton had initially agreed to the Feb. 26 debate, but later suggested she might withdraw after MSNBC’s David Shuster said the Clinton campaign “pimped out” Chelsea by having her call celebrities and Democratic party superdelegates. Shuster was later suspended for the network for his remark.
But Wednesday, Clinton spokesman Isaac Baker said the campaign had decided to go forward as planned.
“We still have concerns about the behavior of members of the NBC team, but that should not stop Ohioans from getting an opportunity to see the candidates debate the issues,” Baker said.
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Chelsea Clinton speaks at Ohio State
Samantha Yarnell was a Barack Obama supporter before she heard Chelsea Clinton speak Wednesday morning at Ohio State University.
Now Yarnell, 19, a sophomore, is undecided as to who she’ll vote for in Ohio’s March 4 Democratic presidential primary.
“I am up in the air,” she said.
Chelsea Clinton, 27, came to Ohio State to campaign for her mother Sen. Hillary Clinton in an attempt to woo away some of the youth vote that has been backing Obama. Chelsea Clinton is scheduled to speak at Sinclair Community College at 4 p.m. Wednesday in Dayton and before that was to appear at Ohio Wesleyan University.
“My mom is still standing for universal health care,” Chelsea Clinton said, noting that her mother’s health care plan includes a mandate that all Americans must get coverage while Obama’s doesn’t.
She also pushed her mom’s plans for making college education affordable, improving primary and secondary education and reforming immigration.
Before hearing Chelsea Clinton, Yarnell said that she wasn’t sure that Sen. Clinton’s experience in Washington was a good thing but afterwards said she now thinks the experience may be a positive. She’s not making any commitments, however.
“Now I really want Barack to come (to Ohio State),” she said.
Boehner endorses McCain
House Minority Leader John Boehner Wednesday, flanked by other House Republican leaders, endorsed Sen. John McCain for President.
Boehner, R-West Chester, had vowed to remain neutral in the race because of his role as chairman of the Republican National Convention, but that changed when it became clear McCain would be the party’s nominee, according to a spokeswoman.
But Boehner stressed that his endorsement wasn’t just perfunctory, and his endorsement is hoped to regain back some of the conservative love that McCain has lost because of his stances on illegal immigration and campaign finance reform, among other issues.
“I think all of have known Sen. McCain has had positions that have differed with some in our party and clearly I’ve had some disagreements with Sen. McCain over the years, but I’ve got to tell you, I’ve watched this presidential race unfold and I’ve watched John McCain be a strong advocate for the principles I believe in,” Boehner said. “John McCain believes we need more fiscal responsibility here in Washington, that we need to eliminate wasteful spending. John McCain believes in the sanctity of human life, something that many of us believe in strongly.”
But Boehner said he really gained renewed respect for McCain because of his decision to support the troop surge in Iraq last year. McCain’s decision to forcefully support the decision to add troops to Iraq, he said, bought President Bush and General David Petraeus invaluable political time.
“John McCain stood up and helped provide leadership at a time when it was desperately needed,” he said.
Before the 10 a.m. press conference, McCain and Boehner met privately in Boehner’s office in the Capitol. After that, they went together to the Capitol Hill Club where they met with the Republican conference. When they walked in, they were met with a standing ovation.
McCain, meanwhile, said he’ll be in Ohio next week on Tuesday and Wednesday.
