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Sunday, February 24, 2008
Cordray warms up Toledo crowd for Obama
Gov. Ted Strickland, Ohio’s most high-profile Hillary Clinton backer, isn’t the only statewide officeholder hitting the campaign trail for Ohio’s March 4 Democratic presidential primary.
State Treasurer Richard Cordray warmed up the crowd today, Feb. 24 before Cordray’s candidate, Barack Obama, spoke at the University of Toledo.
Cordray said he has twins who are nine years old and that he expects the next president to serve for eight years. He wants Obama to be that president.
“He will be their president as they grow into adulthood,” Cordray told the crowd.
Mike Huckabee coming to Mason, Columbus on Tuesday
Republican presidential candidate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is holding a rally in Mason on Tuesday, Feb. 26. The event is at 4:30 p.m. at the Great Wolf Lodge at 2501 Great Wolf Drive. Earlier Tuesday, Huckabee will have a rally in Columbus at the Hyatt Regency at 350 North High Street at 1 p.m.
McCain opening Dayton headquarters
The John McCain campaign is opening its Dayton headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 2:30pm. Forme U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine will be at the opening events. Supporters will be able to pick up literature, yard signs and other items at the office. The McCain headquarters will be in downtown Dayton at 120 W. First Street. For more information, email rpierce@mccain08hq.com. Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have already opened local offices. Obama’s is in downtown Dayton, Hillary Clinton’s is in Kettering. Republican candidate Mike Huckabee has not opened a local office.
Obama outlines economic plan in Lorain
Sen. Barack Obama began the second day of his campaign bus trip around Ohio today, Feb. 24 by touring the National Gypsum plant in Lorain and talking with about 100 workers about his plans to get the economy moving. He was to hold a rally in Toledo later.
Obama is scheduled to be in Fairborn for a rally Tuesday, Feb. 25 after making earlier appearances that day in Cincinnati.
In Lorain he also answered questions about consumer advocate Ralph Nader’s plans to run for president as an independent and criticism from conservative bloggers and others challenging Obama’s patriotism.
He said that he would make a $60 billion investment in infrastructure over 10 years to build roads and bridges and put people to work. His economic plan also calls for closing tax loopholes that he said reward companies that move jobs overseas and instead giving tax breaks to companies that create jobs in America.
Obama also said his plan provides money to pay for the projects by closing the tax loopholes and ending the war in Iraq. The nation can’t keep running up its global credit card, he said.
“We cannot build our future on a credit card issued by the bank of China,” he said.
He said he would try to reopen trade agreements such as NAFTA to include better protection for the environment and workers.
Also, he continued to defend mailers his campaign sent out criticizing Sen. Hillary Clinton’s positions on NAFTA and universal health care. Clinton has denounced them as misleading, but Obama said they accurately reflect what she’s said.
Meanwhile, the Web site, FactCheck.org realized a report finding the NAFTA mailing “misleading” and that said the health care mailing strained the facts but was not exactly false. For more, see:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/obamamailingsfalse.html
As for Nader’s campaign, Obama said he was more interested right now in winning the Democratic nomination. He recalled that in 2000 Nader said there was no difference between Al Gore and George W. Bush.
“I think people realize Ralph did not know what he was talking about,” said Obama.
On his patriotism, Obama said “I owe everything I am to this country.”
He said some of the criticism seems to have come from an occasion when he was singing the National Anthem at an event but didn’t have his hand over his heart. He said the same omission could apply to “about three-fourths of the people” who have been to a football or baseball game.
Eye on Ohio: “Resolve” ad for Clinton
Clinton ad talks about her personal experience
THE AD: “Resolve,” 60 seconds.
WHERE TO SEE IT: Began airing airing Saturday, Feb. 23, on Ohio television stations.
SCRIPT:
Hillary Clinton: I was honored to be asked to speak at the opening of the Intrepid Center at Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio. And I remember sitting up there and watching them come in. Those who could walk were walking, those who had lost limbs were trying with great courage to get themselves in without the help of others.
You know, the hits I’ve taken in life are nothing compared to what goes on every single day in the lives of people across our country. And I resolved, at a very young age, that I’d been blessed, and that I was called by my faith and by my upbringing to do what I could to give others the same opportunities and blessings that I took for granted. That’s what gets me up in the morning, that’s what motivates me in this campaign.
Hillary Clinton: I’m Hillary Clinton and I approved this message.
VIDEO:
The ad is straight footage of last Thursday’s debate between Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, albeit edited down for time. The ad features Clinton’s response to the question, “Describe the moment in your life when you were tested the most?” The video alters between between close-ups of Clinton and wide audience shots.
ANALYSIS:
The Clinton campaign is extraordinarily proud of Clinton’s closing statements in that last debate, and they want to remind voters of them in the final two weeks before Ohioans vote March 4, in part as an attempt to show her as a public servant with a passion for the people she serves. “It demonstrates to the people of America the depth of her caring,” said Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, a Clinton supporter, on a conference call about the ad Saturday. This ad edits out a few of her original comments - both she and Republican front-runner John McCain were at the opening of the Intrepid Center - and also cuts out her final comments about how no matter how the campaign turns out, she and Obama will be fine.
The Washington Post Saturday compared those comments to similar remarks by former Democratic candidate John Edwards. The footage also edits out her statement that she was “honored” to be running in the same field as Obama and the handshake between the two.
Critics of her comments have indicated her handshake may have appeared conciliatory, and, according to a Washington Post story Saturday, Clinton said she had not meant to signal surrender by shaking his hand.
Jessica Wehrman is a reporter at The Dayton Daily News.
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Eye on Ohio: “Level” ad for Clinton
Clinton ad talks about leveling the playing field for everyone
THE AD: “Level,” a 30-second ad.
WHERE TO SEE IT: Began airing Saturday, Feb. 23 on Ohio stations.
SCRIPT:
Announcer: She’s fighting for America’s middle class.
Hillary Clinton: It’s time to level the playing field against the special interests.
Announcer: She’ll end $55 billion dollars in giveaways to corporate special interests and invest it in middle class tax cuts and creating new jobs.
She’ll get tough on unfair trade deals and end tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas.
Hillary Clinton: Standing up for people who weren’t getting a fair shake, that’s been the purpose of my life. And it will be the purpose of my presidency.
Hillary Clinton: I’m Hillary Clinton and I approved this message.
VIDEO:
As the narrator and Clinton are heard, the spot intersperses shots of Clinton meeting with different workers and families, a straight-on shot of her speaking and video of her addressing an enthusiastic crowd. Clinton’s lines are an excerpt from one of her speeches.
ANALYSIS:
The economy is the top issue in many states now. But in many parts of Ohio, concerns over the economy are inextricably tied specifically to anger over foreign trade deals such as NAFTA that blue-collar workers are convinced have resulted in the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs. NAFTA was a top priority of President Clinton.
But Hillary Clinton has gone from an apparent supporter of NAFTA, talking about it favorably in her 2003 autobiography, for instance, to calling for a “timeout” on new trade deals. With Clinton under attack in Ohio by rival Barack Obama on the topic of NAFTA, this ad is an attempt to reinforce her standing among blue-collar Democrats.
Where would Clinton find the $55 billion? She said in an economic proposal earlier this month that the sources include: $7.5 billion from eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for oil companies; $20 billion from “phasing out” what many Democrats argue are too large Medicare managed care payments to HMOs and having Medicare negotiate lower prescription drug prices; and $15 billion from ending a variety of tax breaks to companies that send jobs overseas.
The ad’s ending is part of Clinton’s bid to better connect with ordinary Americans.
Jonathan Riskind is a reporter at The Columbus Dispatch.
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