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Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Dayton-area Obama and Clinton offices open
The two Democratic presidential contenders have set up shop in the Miami Valley - one in Dayton, the other in Kettering.
The Dayton Barack Obama headquarters is having its ribbon cutting and open house on Thursday, Feb. 21, at 5:30 p.m. The office is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Obama headquarters is on the first floor of the Kettering Tower at Second and Jefferson streets in downtown Dayton.
The Hillary Clinton campaign opened its local office on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 3854 Wilmington Pike in Kettering. The chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, Terry McAuliffe, made a quick stop Tuesday night to officially open the office.
McAuliffe rallied a crowd of more than 100 Clinton supporters crammed into a former auto parts store. McAuliffe, former Democratic National Committee chairman (2001-05) and super-fundraiser, spoke to the crowd for slightly less than an hour. “This race is tight. Ohio is key,” McAuliffe said.
Eye on Ohio: “Night Watch” ad for Clinton
Clinton ad talks about standing up for workers who are sometimes overlooked
THE AD: “Night shift,” 30-seconds.
WHERE TO SEE IT: It began airing Tuesday, Feb. 19, on Ohio television stations.
SCRIPT:
Announcer: “You pour coffee, fix hair, you work the night shift at the local hospital. You’re often overworked, underpaid, and sometimes overlooked. But not by everyone.
“One candidate has put forth an American family agenda to make things easier for everyone who works so hard.
“Universal health care. Increased day care. And help with elder health care. She understands. She’s worked the night shift, too.”
Clinton: “I’m Hillary Clinton, and I approved this message.”
VIDEO:
It opens with a young woman cleaning a restaurant table late at night, followed by a woman sweeping the floor of a hair salon and a third woman walking down the empty halls of a hospital. Then it dissolves to Clinton addressing a crowd, meeting with young children, talking to workers. It concludes with a black-and-white photo of Clinton, wearing glasses, seated at a desk illuminated by a small lamp, and reading — presumably at night.
ANALYSIS:
The commercial is an effort to connect with working women, particularly those in lower-paying jobs. It also reminds voters that Clinton is the only candidate to propose a health care plan that would extend health insurance to all 47 million Americans without coverage. In that sense, the commercial is accurate.
But it doesn’t mention some details that viewers may want to know, such as how much it will cost taxpayers. The Clinton campaign has estimated her plan would cost $110 billion annually. She proposes paying for her plan by not extending the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 for those earning more than $250,000 a year.
But in showing the limits of soak-the-rich policies, that only raises $54 billion a year. To make up for the rest, Clinton is promising $56 billion in annual savings through vague measures such as updated record-keeping.
Nor does the commercial mention that Clinton would require every American to buy insurance.
As for increased day care, Clinton wants to expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover an additional 13 million Americans. She would do so by requiring companies with 25 or more workers to provide 12 weeks of unpaid leave for the birth of a child or illness of a relative.
Currently, the law only requires unpaid leave for companies with 50 or more workers. Such a mandate, however, would impose costs on small companies, which tend to generate many of the economy’s new jobs.
Jack Torry is a reporter at The Columbus Dispatch. E-mail: jtorry@dispatch.com.
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McCain outlines plan to spur Ohio economy
Republican John McCain was ready with an answer today, Feb. 19, when asked what he’ll tell Ohio voters about his plans to revive Ohio’s sagging economy.
“Reduce taxes. Reduce interest rates. Encourage …technologies and innovation…improve education,” McCain, an Arizona senator, said at a news conrference at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Columbus that amounted to a kickoff for his campaign for the March 4 GOP primary.
He also emphasized replacing existing training programs for displaced workers with a program that actually works to prepare them for new jobs. He said community colleges should play a big role in such programs.
“We can’t leave people behind,” said McCain, accompanied by his wife Cindy and former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine, R-Ohio.
He was in Ohio to await results from today’s presidential primary in Wisconsin. He said he was “guardedly optimistic” about the outcome. On Wednesday, Feb. 20, he is scheduled to visit Young’s Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs.
Although McCain has all but wrapped up the GOP presidential nomination, he said he respected former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s decision to keep campaigning.
He also said he would have to campaign hard in Ohio to be heard over the din of the heated campaign on the Democratic side between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
He lashed out at both Democrats for promising to set a date to get American troops out of Iraq. He said this would lead to “chaos.” He said the surge was working.
McCain acknowledged the challenge of uniting the Republicans for the general election.
“We have a lot of work to do with our base. We have to unite it and energize it,” McCain said.
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Women’s advocacy group: Ohio women like Hillary
Add a new poll to the list of polls showing Hillary Clinton leading in Ohio: EMILY’s List, a women’s advocacy group, Tuesday released a poll giving Clinton a 14-point lead over Barack Obama among likely women voters in the Democratic primary in Ohio.
Fifty-one percent of those polled support Senator Clinton compared to 37 percent who support Senator Obama, with 11 percent undecided.
Clinton’s campaign is banking on strong support from women and from the middle-class to boost it over the top in Ohio March 4. Rasmussen and Quinnipiac polls last week also showed Clinton leading Obama in the state.
Among Clinton voters, 69 percent say they are very certain that they will vote for Clinton, according to the EMILY’s List poll. Among Obama voters, 59 percent say they are very certain that they will vote for Obama.
EMILY’s LIST WOMEN VOTE!, a nationwide voter mobilization and education project, released the poll to kick off its voter mobilization program. It plans to reach out to 150,000 women voters in Ohio by phone and mail in the days before the state’s March 4 primary.
Obama impresses make up artist
When Sen. Barack Obama jumped on stage before 6,800 screaming supporters at Youngstown State University, he had a little help from Robynn Foraker.
Foraker is a make-up artist who has dabbed powder on the shiny foreheads of John Edwards, Jennifer Brunner, J. Kenneth Blackwell and now Obama.
“He has phenomenal skin. Everybody in the TV world needs make up but I’ll tell you what, he didn’t need much at all,” Foraker said.
She also noted that while some clients and their staff members can be brusque, Obama and his people were pleasant.
“Everyone was really professional. That says a lot. On camera, everyone comes off great but (how they behave) behind the scenes — that’s the real key,” Foraker said.
More surrogates on the stump in Ohio
Kansas Gov. and Cincinnati native Kathleen Sebelius will stump for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama in Cincinnati Wednesday, the campaign just announced.
Sebelius is in her second term as Kansas Governor. She’ll appear at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Laborer’s Local 265 Hall, 3547 Montgomery Road in Cincinnati.
Sebelius is the daughter of former Ohio Governor John J. Gilligan.
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Kal Penn to campaign for Obama in Ohio
Actor Kal Penn will be the star of a Students for Barack Obama College Tour on Wednesday, Feb. 20. Penn currently stars in the Fox medical show, “House” and got lots of attention for his role in the movie “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.”
The tour will stop at Oberlin College, Cleveland State University, Kent State University, the University of Akron and Ohio State University.
