Austan Goolsbee

On the McCain campaign conference call this morning, which was almost as long as some of the Clinton calls have been, Doug Holtz-Eakin and Carly Fiorina said that the Democratic candidates “mischaracterize” John McCain’s position on the economy.

“To describe McCain’s position as ‘do-nothing’ and ‘stand back and watch,’” former Hewlett-Packard C.E.O. Fiorina said, “is politics of the worst sort.”  read more »

On a conference call that just ended, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe sought to raise questions about Hillary Clinton's unreleased tax returns, but instead ended up fielding questions about controversies involving advisers to his own campaign.

"This point about vetting and electablility does raise some questions about Senator Clinton," said Plouffe, responding to the Clinton campaign's assertion that Obama had not been sufficiently vetted. He added, "Hillary Clinton is one of the most secretive politicians in America today."  read more »

If Barack Obama prevails over Hillary Clinton to become his party’s nominee, it will mark the end of an era for the Clintons. But the agenda of the group that devised their national political identity will be just fine.

At least according to Al From, the founder and CEO of the resolutely centrist—Clintonian, even—Democratic Leadership Council.

“What he has done is he has certainly taken a good part of the strategy we have articulated over the years,” Mr. From said. “Which is to not polarize, but try to unite and build a coalition that understands that a Democratic victory is a coalition.”  read more »

Now, according to the Clinton campaign, it’s “NAFTAgate.”

That’s what Howard Wolfson just called the controversy about Barack Obama’s senior economic advisor, Austan Goolsbee, allegedly telling Canadian officials that Mr. Obama’s sharp attacks on NAFTA were only “political positioning.”  read more »

I just spoke very briefly to Austan Goolsbee, the Obama campaign economic advisor who CTV has identified as the aide who purportedly suggested to the Canadian government officials that Obama’s harsh rhetoric against NAFTA was less than heartfelt. I asked Goolsbee if any such meeting or call had taken place.  read more »