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Home > Blogs > Ohio politics > Archives > 2008 > February > 26
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Live from Cleveland, the Debate
11:15 p.m.
In the “spin room” after the debate, supporters of the candidates each said they thought their’s “won” the debate.
Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray , who has endorsed Obama, said the debate showed how close the candidates are in their positions. Cordray said the tone of the debate also showed “there’s clearly an underlying respect for one another.”
But he said he is partial to Obama and his performance in the debate. “I think he is uniquely poised to bring the change we need,” said Cordray.
Obama has the style of leadership needed to solve the nation’s problems, he said.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland supports Clinton and said he was particularly impressed with her strong defense of her universal health care plan and that she spoke very specifically about what she would do as president.
“We are ahead in Ohio. I think her performance tonight will keep her ahead in Ohio,” said Strickland.
He said his strong friendship with Clinton will help Ohio if she is president because he will be able to simply pick up the phone and call her.
10:36 p.m.
How could 90 minutes have passed so quickly? The debate drew to a surprisingly civil close considering how close the race is and how high the stakes are for the candidates.
10:34 p.m.
The moderator asked each to answer what is the fundamental question the other candidate should answer for voters as to whether they would be a worthy nominee.
“She would be worthy as a nominee,” Obama said. “I think I would be better, otherwise I wouldn’t be running,” said Obama, continuing the two candidates tendency to mix a little positive with a little not so positive about their opponent.
Clinton did the same.
“There isn’t any doubt that, you know, both of us feel strongly about our country, that we bring enormous energy and commitment to this race and would bring that to the general election and to the White House” said Clinton.
“Its been an honor to campaign. I still intend to do everything I can to win, but it has been an honor because it has been a campaign that is history making.”
10:29 p.m.
Sen. Clinton had her chance to show her stuff on foreign policy with thoughtful remarks on whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would really relinquish power when a new hand-picked successor becomes president.
“This is a clever but transparent way for Putin to hold onto power,” Clinton said. “It’s imperative that we begin to have a more realistic and effective strategy toward Russia.”
When asked if she knew who would replace Putin she then had trouble pronouncing the guy’s name.
“Yes,” said Clinton, stumbling over the name Medvedev. “Whatever,” she said with a laugh.
10:10 p.m.
Lest people think Obama believes he can wish the country to good fortune, he came right out and said it: “I am absolutely clear that hope is not enough.”
But the only way to make change is to mobilize the American people, he said.
“If the American people are activated, that is how change is going to happen,” Obama said.
And lest they think he asked for Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan’s recent endorsement. Obama said, “It is not support I sought.”
“I can’t say to somebody that he can’t say that he thinks I’m a good guy. I’ve been very clear in my denunciations of him and his past comments.”
10 p.m.
They returned from a commercial break with NBC mistakenly playing a Clinton speech when they meant to play an Obama one.
Everyone had a laugh and Obama went right into saying special interests dominate Washington, with the implication that longtime Washington insiders like Clinton can’t be as effective as him because of it.
He said he hears the stories of regular Americans and “you realize nobody has been listening to them.”
“I’m not interested in talk, I’m not interested in speeches,” said Obama, contending that he would not be running if he didn’t intend to make positive political changes.
Clinton placed blame on the White House and members of Congress who went along with laws that hurt regular people.
“I know it takes a fighter. It takes somebody who will go toe to toe with the special interests,” Clinton said. “The special interests are not going to give up without a fight.”
9:47 p.m.
There’s a lot of gesturing going on here. There might be a pretty good YouTube mash up video of the two candidates using their hands to make their points, without of course pointing their fingers directly. Because that would be rude.
And everyone’s being pretty polite right now.
Even if they are comparing each other to Republicans.
9:40
It took 35 minutes but Obama just took his shot at Clinton’s vote authorizing the Iraq war, arguing that that is what her level of “experience” got the country.
“On the critical issues that actually matter, I believe my judgment has been sound,” said Obama.
Clinton was asked if she was implying the country would be “taking a chance” if they elected Obama and made him commander-in-chief.
She hit back, managing to combine her frequent criticism that he’s all speech no substance with a reminder that Obama had voted to fund the war once he was in the Senate.
“Many people made speeches against the war then,” said Clinton, referring to Obama’s remarks in his 2004 campaign for the U.S. Senate.
“I was one of the most vocal opponents of the war,” said Obama, saying that his votes for funding came after the U.S. was already in a war that it should not have ever begun.
“Sen. Clinton often says she is ready on day on,” Obama. “But, in fact, she was ready to give in to George Bush on day one on this critical issue.”
9:30 p.m.
Obama not only accused Clinton of supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement, he even implied she was not initially for strong labor or environmental standards in those trade pacts.
“I think Sen. Clinton has shifted positions on this and believes we should have strong labor standards and environmental standards,” Obama said.
Clinton didn’t bite, as Tim Russert pulled out several published quotes from Clinton saying positive things about NAFTA in the past.
He asked, “Will you as president say, we are out of NAFTA in 6 months?”
“No. I will say we will opt out of NAFTA unless we renegotiate it,” Clinton said.
She said she’s been consistent in what she has said. Clinton contends NAFTA has been successful in some parts of the country and not successful in others, including Ohio.
Russert quoted published reports calling Obama “consistently ambivalent” on NAFTA.
Obama said he strongly opposed NAFTA but he did believe that trade deals could be beneficial to the United States. But like Clinton, he said, the United States should threaten to opt out of the deals unless stronger standards are put in place.
“What I want to be is an advocate on behalf of workers,” Obama said.
9:20 p.m.
Clinton once again likens Obama to the Republicans, as she did in Cincinnati, this time when contrasting her health care plan with his.
Obama defended his plan - mentioning that former Pres. Bill Clinton’s secretary of labor says positive things about his plan.
“We still don’t know how Sen. Clinton intends to enforce a mandate,” Obama said.
The moderator tried to move on but Clinton insisted on explaining her plan for a mandate, saying not making it mandatory would be as if Franklin Roosevelt had said “let’s make Social Security voluntary.”
Obama then took his turn forcing the debate to stay on health care, and said the experts Clinton cites say there is no difference between their plans.
Already they’re interrupting each other.
“Well a 16-minute discussion on health care is certainly a start,” said moderator Brian Williams, turning the discussion to NAFTA.
Hillary then complained that she always gets the first question and implied that last weekend’s Saturday Night Life skit implying that the media favor Obama was accurate and perhaps someone should get him “a pillow.”
9:07 p.m.
The debate opened and went straight to the point, with moderator Brian Williams playing clips of Clinton shaking hands with Obama at the previous debate in Austin and then saying “shame on you” to Obama during her visit to Cincinnati on Saturday. Clinton said Obama was putting out false and misleading information and she then began talking about her plan to achieve quality, affordable health care. Williams jumped then to the Drudge Report photograph of Obama in traditional African garb, including a turban, during his visit to Africa. He asked if it came from her campaign. “So far as I know it did not,” said Clinton, saying she did not condone that sort of behavior in her campaign.
8:45 p.m.
The big moment is nearly here and the candidates just walked in the door on this snowy Tuesday night in Cleveland.
In 15 minutes Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama will face off before the crowd of nearly 1,600 at Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center in a debate that’s become a make-or-break for Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary.
Clinton’s one-time double-digit lead over Obama in Ohio trickled to four points in a poll released this week.
“If she loses Ohio or even if it’s close in Ohio and she loses Texas, it’s over. There’s no coming back for her,” said Christopher Duncan, chairman of the political science department at the University of Dayton. “She’ll have lost from east to west, from north to south.”
No time to rest
Sen. Barack Obama isn’t expected to be done with the Democratic debate at Cleveland State University until sometime after 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26, but with the Ohio primary campaign in its final week, he won’t be stopping for the night just yet.
After the debate with Sen. Hillary Clinton, Obama will go to a Cleveland area company and meet with workers who are members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, said campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt. The union endorsed him on Wednesday.
President Clinton in Dayton area on Thursday
Former President Bill Clinton will have a rally for his wife, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, on Thursday, Feb. 28. The event will be at Stebbins High School, 1900 Harshman Road in Riverside. The event is free and open to the public.
Portman backs McCain; Cunningham provokes apology
This from the Associated Press:
CINCINNATI (AP) — Republican John McCain quickly denounced the comments of a radio talk show host who while warming up a campaign crowd referred repeatedly to Barack Hussein Obama and called the Democratic presidential candidate a “hack, Chicago-style” politician.
Hussein is Obama’s middle name, but talk show host Bill Cunningham used it three times as he addressed the crowd before the likely Republican nominee’s appearance. “Now we have a hack, Chicago-style Daley politician who is picturing himself as change. When he gets done with you, all you’re going to have in your pocket is change,” Cunningham said as the audience laughed.
The time will come, Cunningham added, when the liberal-leaning media will “peel the bark off Barack Hussein Obama” and tell the truth about his relationship with indicted fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko and how Obama got “sweetheart deals” in Chicago. McCain wasn’t on stage or, he says, in the building when Cunningham made the comments, but he quickly distanced himself from the radio talk show host after finishing his speech. McCain spoke to a couple hundred people at Memorial Hall in downtown Cincinnati.
“I apologize for it,” McCain told reporters, addressing the issue before they had a chance to ask the Arizona senator about Cunningham’s comments. “I did not know about these remarks, but I take responsibility for them. I repudiate them,” he said. “My entire campaign I have treated Senator Obama and Senator (Hillary Rodham) Clinton with respect. I will continue to do that throughout this campaign.”
McCain called both Democrats “honorable Americans” and said, “I want to dissociate myself with any disparaging remarks that may have been said about them.” Asked whether the use of Obama’s middle name — the same as former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein — is proper, McCain said: “No, it is not. Any comment that is disparaging of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama is totally inappropriate.”
McCain said he didn’t know who decided to allow Cunningham to speak but said he was sure it was in coordination with his campaign. He said he didn’t hear the comments and has never met Cunningham, but “I will certainly make sure that nothing like that happens again.”
Responding to McCain’s apology, Obama spokesman Bill Burton said, “It is a sign that if there is a McCain-Obama general election, it can be intensely competitive but the candidates will attempt to keep it respectful and focused on issues.”
Last fall, McCain faced criticism for initially not repudiating a voter in South Carolina who called Clinton a “bitch.” McCain chuckled in response to the voter’s question, but didn’t embrace the epithet. A few minutes later, he said he respected Clinton, a New York senator and colleague.
Aside from using Obama’s middle name, Cunningham also mocked the Illinois senator’s foreign policy statements about his willingness to meet with the leaders of rogue nations. He said he envisions a future in which “the great prophet from Chicago takes the stand and the world leaders who want to kill us will simply be singing Kumbaya together around the table with Barack Obama.”
At one point, Cunningham compared Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Madeleine Albright, whom he said “looks like death warmed over.” He also commented on the difference between former Ohio Rep. Rob Portman, whose wife is named Jane, and Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, an openly gay member of Congress. “Jane’s the main difference. But that’s a different story,” Cunningham said. As Cunningham finished, Portman, who is mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate, took the microphone to introduce McCain.
“Willie, you’re out of control again. So, what else is new? But we love him,” Portman said. “But I’ve got to tell you, Bill Cunningham lending his voice to this campaign is extremely important. He did it in 2000, he did it in 2004. It was crucial to victory then and it’s even more important this year with his bigger radio audience. So, Bill Cunningham, thank you for lending your voice.”
Speaking to reporters later alongside McCain, Portman said: “I was backstage so I didn’t hear everything he said. Bill Cunningham is a radio talk show host who is often controversial so it does not surprise me that he was controversial.” He added: “That’s, I guess, how he makes his living.”
Redfern: “This is no longer a ‘red’ state”
Ohio Democratic Chairman Chris Redfern briefed reporters gathered in Cleveland for the Democratic presidential debate on the Democrats’ plan to win Ohio in this year’s presidential election.
“This is no longer a ‘red’ state,” Refern, a state representative from Catawba Island, said Tuesday, Feb. 26. “It never was.”
Redfern said Ohio is a “moderate” state. Democrats will run an 88-county operation and not focus solely on Democratic strongholds, he said.
John Hagner, targeting director for the Ohio Democratic Party, said the Democrats even will go after votes in exurban Republican strongholds such as Butler and Warren counties.
While the Democratic candidate for president won’t carry those counties, Democrats can pick up votes by targeting individuals on issues such as stem cell research and the economy, Hagner said.
Doug Kelly, executive director for the Ohio Democratic Party, said a goal is to “not let them (Republicans) off the canvas” after big GOP losses in 2006.
Kelly also said Democrats expect a turnout as large as 2 million in their March 4 presidential primary, far higher than the 1.28 million turnout in 2004.
“There’s very little precedent” for a primary like this year’s with Ohio playing a key role in determining the party’s nominee, said Kelly.
Kevin DeWine, deputy director of the Ohio Republican Party, disagreed with Redfern.
“We have consistently heard from the Democrats a mantra that includes more spending, higher taxes and more government control over people’ lives. Ohioans will reject those ideas, like they have in years past,” DeWine said in an e-mail
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Boehner to have back surgery
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-West Chester, will have back surgery Friday morning at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Md., his office announced Tuesday.
His recovery will prevent him from attending the 17th Annual Farm Forum in his district on Saturday, March 1, but he is expected to resume his full schedule next week. The farm forum will go on as planned, but without Boehner in attendance.
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Former OSU basketball star Oden endorses Obama
Greg Oden, star of Ohio State’s 2006-2007 Big Ten championship and national runnerup basketball team, has endorsed Barack Obama for president, Obama’s campaign announced today, Feb. 26.
Oden now is on the roster of the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA.
Oden, a first-time voter and number one pick in last year’s NBA draft, released this statement through the Obama campaign:
“Like a lot of young people, I’ve been drawn to Sen. Obama’s campaign and the potential he has for our country. Obama gives Americans, especially young voters like me, a sense of hope in politics. He makes us feel like we can come together for the good of our country. Topics like education, and health care are very important to me and I agree with Senator Obama’s views on these issues.”
The campaign said that Oden would work with the campaign to reach out to young voters in Ohio and in other states still waiting to have primaries, including Indiana where he was a high school basketball star.
Incidentally, Obama has been known to play some pickup basketball games.
“Greg Oden meant a lot to the state of Ohio, and we’re proud to have his endorsement,” Obama Ohio Director Paul Tewes said.
Debate watch party in Kettering for Clinton supporters
Local Hillary Clinton supporters are having a debate watch party tonight, Feb. 26, at 8:30 at Pepito’s, 3618 Wilmington Pike in Kettering.
Dodd endorses Obama; Clinton to hold town meeting
U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., who dropped his own bid for the White House last month after a poor showing in the Iowa caucuses, today, Feb. 26 endorsed Barack Obama for president.
Dodd’s endorsement came at a news conference at a Cleveland hotel as Obama and Hillary Clinton prepared for tonight’s Democratic debate in the snow-covered city.
Clinton was to hold a town meeting at noon in Lorain, west of Cleveland, before the 9 p.m. debate at Cleveland State University.
