Phil Singer

Not surprisingly, the first words out of Howard Wolfson’s mouth on the Clinton campaign conference call today were about “some recent public polling” that show Hillary Clinton’s strength against John McCain in the general election.

Pollster Geoff Garin then gave a lengthy statement, which began: “The point here is simple. Over the course of the past two weeks, particular since our Pennsylvania victory, there’s been real movement in the polls.”  read more »

The Clinton campaign thinks that the sort of questions Barack Obama faced last night—tough in a way that angered Obama’s sympathizers, but not at all unexpected—were appropriate.

On a conference call now, New Yorker legal writer Jeffrey Toobin just gave Howard Wolfson and Phil Singer the chance to perform some media criticism, asking them if questions about Barack Obama's acquaintances and other "trivia" were a valuable part of the political process.  read more »

In a "kitchen sink" conference call this morning, the Clinton campaign argued that Barack Obama is not as transparent as he says he is, delivered a statement on John McCain's economic policy, and then tried to adjust expectations for the Pennsylvania primary, which Hillary Clinton was always expected to win comfortably. (“If [Obama] fails to win in Pennsylvania, it will be a significant defeat for him," said Howard Wolfson).

Then they opened the call. The first questions came from Jeff Toobin, who referenced the negative ad the Clinton campaign released today and asked, “I wonder if there’s any concern at all in the Clinton campaign whether this is a death spiral that will begin to damage the party?”

“Well first, I appreciate the question,” Wolfson said. “I think I would take some issue with the facts as presented.”  read more »

On this morning's Clinton campaign conference call, Phil Singer again pushed the issue of the Obama campaign's efforts to block new primary contests in Michigan and Florida.

Senator Obama, Singer said, has turned "the audacity of hope into the audacity of nope."

In another effort to control a big news day with a news-making attack on the Obama campaign, the Clinton campaign just now accused the Obama campaign in a conference call of actively blocking a re-vote in Michigan and passive-aggressively stymieing another primary in Florida.

Harold Ickes said "we understand on very, very good authority" that Michigan legislators believe both campaign's consent would be necessary for a re-vote. He said that since the Clinton campaign was publicly in favor of a re-vote, the Obama campaign must be blocking the effort.  read more »

“This is a serious election,” said Chuck Schumer on a conference call about Hillary Clinton’s campaign this morning. He added that voters choose Clinton when they “get close to decision-making time, when they know this is for real."

Schumer spoke after Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana, who said that Hillary had started to win now that “people have gotten through the initial job interviews.”  read more »

On the Clinton campaign conference call this morning, spokesmen Howard Wolfson and Phil Singer once again directed attention to the fact that the Tony Rezko trial just started yesterday, and said that Barack Obama hasn’t answered all of the questions about it.

“The bottom line,” Wolfson began, “is that as Democrats prepare to vote and begin voting in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont, there are many, many, many more questions for Senator Obama with regard to the Rezko matter.”  read more »

The longer-than-expected (and tougher-than-expected) Democratic primary contest temporarily claimed a victim in the Clinton press office this week, as spokesman Phil Singer took his first sick days since August in order to, as he told me, “clear [his] head and get over a stomach flu.”

Singer was off for a couple of days, he said, but is back at work starting today.  read more »

In 1965, fully 100 years after the death of the Confederacy, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, at long last enshrining into federal law the right of all Americans to participate fully and equally in the political process.

The following year, Barack Obama, then a wide-eyed Kindergartener who was suddenly free to dream bigger dreams than his forebears, wrote an essay entitled “I Want to Become President.”

And now the Clinton Machine is attacking him for it.  read more »

That sharp, early exchange between John Edwards and Howard Wolfson should have dispelled whatever doubts may have existed about Hillary Clinton's willingness to respond aggressively to criticism from her Democratic rivals. And the campaign hirings of Phil Singer and Blake Zeff, two other graduates of the Chuck Schumer School of Public Relations, provided yet more evidence that they're prepared to deal out quite a lot more of the same brand of rapid response.

So this assessment by Hillary contibutor Lady Lynn De Rothschild, from a conversation I had with her yesterday, seems about right:

"It won't take ten days for her to respond to attacks, it will her take ten nanoseconds. She is the only one with the guts and experience necessary to do this."

--Jason Horowitz

Barack Obama met with some New York donors who are not committed to Hillary Clinton for 2008.

In what might be considered a rhetorical response to Hillary's line about hope not being a policy, Obama said last night that in America, "We have an empathy deficit."

One of Hillary's prospective hires is Chuck Schumer's "alter ego" Phil Singer.

Hillary hired Howard Dean's New Hampshire director and one of John Kerry's 2004 campaign aides.

She's telling lawmakers "I'm really going to go for this."

Eliot Spitzer paid $1.35 million in bonuses to campaign staffers.

He'll also use his leftover campaign cash to pay for the inauguration.

Albany DA David Soares spoke about the Alan Hevesi situation, and pushed back on leaks from other offices. Soares "said he broke his silence partly out of frustration over a newspaper story, citing anonymous sources, that indicated a pending state report on Hevesi's misuse of public resources would spur Soares to bring criminal charges."

An aide to Spitzer said they're continuing their investigation of Hevesi.

After about a year in her leadership post, Council Speaker Christine Quinn got mixed reviews on the issue of reform.

And the New Yorker's Ben McGrath tries keeping up with Al Sharpton.

-- Azi Paybarah

When Harry Reid first tapped Chuck Schumer to lead the DSCC back in 2005, Republicans were still riding a wave of popularity. But an extreme reversal in the political climate, coupled with Schumer's success in recruiting good candidates, has made for much more lofty ambitions. Gains are now a given. The question is simply whether the pick-up will be three seats -- probably the minimum required for this year to be judged a success -- or something between that and six, the number the Democrats need to attain a majority.

Back in June, Schumer told me that the barometer had already changed significantly.

"When I took it in 05 I said to Harry, a bad year we'll lose three, a moderate year we'll stay even and in a good year we'll pick up two. Now that's changed. A bad year now will be staying even. A moderate year pick up one or two and a good year we pick up three or more."

Here's what DSCC spokesman Phil Singer told me today:

"We are a lot closer than anybody ever thought we would be but we are not there yet, and we are going to keep on working as hard as we possibly can until Election Day. Nobody is popping any champagne yet."

And here, for the hell of it, is the assessment of always-enthusiastic Democratic fund-raiser and TV talking head Robert Zimmerman:

"If the Democrats pick up four, Schumer's going to get pats on the back. Five, he gets a parade. If it's all six -- they're going to build him a statue."

-- Jason Horowitz

Over at MyDD, former Corzine campaign blogger Matt Stoller sums up the reports of friction between Chuck and New Jersey Senator/Governor-elect Jon Corzine, including the blame emanating from Jersey on the subect of who leaked the Menendez announcement.

"No word yet on the next politician Schumer's going to piss off," writes Stoller at www.mydd.com.

Worth noting that I've never actually seen much evidence of Chuck-Jon animus, and Schumer's DSCC spokesman Phil Singer tells The Politicker that the two Senators "get along famously."

Also: "The report that we leaked [the Menendez story] has no basis in reality," he said.

If nothing else, though, the episode offers one more chance (just one more!) to reprint Corzine's line at a DC roast a while back:

"Sharing a media market with Chuck Schumer is like sharing a banana with a monkey.... Take a little bite out of it and he will throw his own feces at you."  read more »

In a sign that dealing with the New York press corps is the trial by fire I alleged to Andrea Tantaros it is, the Hill reports that the D.C. consulting firm that hands out "Flak Jacket" and "Bomb Thrower" awards to press operatives has, er, honored three New Yorkers: Hillary spokesman Philippe Reines, Chuck aide Phil Singer, and Kevin Madden, who didn't always work for Tom DeLay. (via JustHillary)  read more »

As we lurch incongruously toward both war and the holidays, the words-or rather, the word-of a great  read more »