NY Observer > Barack Obama

Obama Donor on 'Loss of Face' for Clinton Counterparts

Jason Horowitz — Mon, 12 May 2008 15:21:56 -0400

On a day that the read more »

Schumer Makes the Case for Obama-Clinton '08

Jason Horowitz — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:53:57 -0400

Eliot Brown passes on a couple of Chuck Schumer quotes from a Crain's breakfast today at the Grand Hyatt in Midtown:

On the viability of an Obama/Clinton ticket: “At first I thought it wasn’t but I do think it could be.”

On voters: “They’re worried, and they want somebody to come in and say I can help a little bit you with healthcare, and paying for college, and all these things, and a Democratic candidate is more likely to do it. Hillary and Barack have both run very strong and great races, and I think they’d be a strong ticket together.”

Bloomberg on Hillary Clinton's Dream

Katharine Jose — Mon, 12 May 2008 10:35:13 -0400

In case you missed it, here (courtesy of Em Whitney) is a bit of Michael Bloomberg's Friday interview with the BBC in which he explains his opinion that the long Democratic primary is bad for John McCain:

Although journalists on this side of the Atlantic have more or less stopped asking the question, Michael Bloomberg was once again pressed for his position on presidential politics during an interview with BBC Newsnight last Friday. read more »

Axelrod's Targeted Push for Clinton Donors

Jason Horowitz — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:17:08 -0400

The Obama campaign is in town to rally its fund-raisers and create new ones. Obama senior strategist David Axelrod is here for two meetings with the campaign's fund-raisers, reported yesterday in the New York Post, at which the Obama finance people have been encouraged to show up with friends who are Clinton supporters.

But the push to recruit the opposition is a measured one. read more »

What Edwards Did for the Democrats

Steve Kornacki — Sun, 11 May 2008 21:43:38 -0400

Appearing on Sunday’s “Face the Nation” in a pre-taped interview, the latest stop in his reemergence tour, John Edwards explained his rationale for exiting the Democratic race in late January after finishing third in his native South Carolina.

“I had concluded I could stay in the race, keep getting significant numbers of votes, keep accumulating delegates,” he said. “But the overwhelming likelihood was I would not be the nominee.” read more »

Trenton Mayor: 'Bitter' Is Worse Than 'White Americans,' Clinton Is Key to Blocking Flight to McCain

Jason Horowitz — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:50:20 -0400

Mayor Doug Palmer of Trenton, a loyal Hillary Clinton supporter, doesn’t think much of the dust-up over Clinton's comments about how exit polls in Indiana and North Carolina showed Barack Obama's "support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

Palmer, one of Clinton’s highest-profile black supporters in New Jersey, refused any suggestion that she was trying to be manipulative, and said that she was only pointing out a fact that a whole host of pundits and analysts had already observed.

"She doesn't have to say that because people already see it and know it. And her saying it is not going to make it more important," he said, adding. "People need to step back and take a breath."

"She just has gotten a bad rap on this," he added. "You have 92 percent of African American voters going for him. And people said that he has black support."

He argued Obama's "bitter" comments were worse because they were made in a San Francisco fund-raiser. By contrast, with Clinton, he said, "It was not like she was saying something behind closed doors. She said it to the media." read more »

Weiner Stands Tall in Face of Obama, Is Not Impressed with Quinn's Reforms

Azi Paybarah — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:34:22 -0400

Representative Anthony Weiner, a devout Hillary Clinton supporter, recalls for News Forum host Jay DeDapper what it was like meeting Barack Obama on the floor of Congress the other day:

From a transcript sent over by the studio: read more »

Why the Popular Vote Argument Has Disappeared

Steve Kornacki — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:25:28 -0400

Two weeks ago, I examined the officially meaningless but symbolically crucial popular-vote tally on the Democratic side.

At the time, Hillary Clinton had just won Pennsylvania by nine points and was claiming to be the popular-vote leader, positioning herself – in theory—to assert a moral claim on the loyalties of uncommitted superdelegates. read more »

Clinton's Letter to Obama About Florida and Michigan

Jason Horowitz — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:20:12 -0400

Hillary Clinton just sent a formal public letter to Barack Obama calling on him to work to find a resolution to the Florida and Michigan question that reflects the votes in those states and seats their delegations at the convention. She also attempts to shame him for what she calls his failure to "support those efforts" in Michigan, and for the Obama campaign's opposition to revotes in Florida. "In Florida a number of revote options were proposed. I am not aware of any that you supported," she writes.

As pointed out in a conference call yesterday, it is not clear that the Clinton campaign picks up enough support to change their dire position even if both states are counted. But as long as the Obama campaign doesn't budge, it's a talking point for the Clinton campaign.

Here's the letter: read more »

Clinton Finance Chair Expects Nominee (Whoever That Is) to Be Welcoming

Jason Horowitz — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:17:01 -0400

I just asked Hillary Clinton's finance chair Hassan Nemazee about accounts from other Clinton donors of Obama bundlers contacting them about the possibility of coming over to the campaign.

"There is only one instance that I know of in which a Clinton donor went over to the Obama campaign," said Nemazee. "I remain convinced, until shown otherwise, that donors, be they in New York or elsewhere, are sticking with Hillary and the campaign."

He added, "I would like, in my role, to hopefully be welcoming the Obama people over to Hillary Clinton's campaign. But obviously, we're at a point in the campaign where both common sense and the political reality is indicating that that's not one of my priorities at the moment. What I can say is, if I were the national finance chair of the presumed nominee, I would do everything in my power to welcome supporters of the opposing side into the campaign as much as possible."

He said that he had in fact done as much when he was in a similar position. read more »