Democracy for New Mexico

Who's Really Out of Touch? Bush III, Er, McCain

For a painful picture of the horrible economic impacts to New Mexico of the Iraq occupation -- and McCain's Iraq and tax plan proposals -- see this post on Clearly New Mexico. Already, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has show in a recent report that New Mexico ranks 6th in the nation for income inequality. This will only get worse if McCain is allowed to carry Bush II's agenda into another presidential term. Know anyone who seems attracted to the "maverick" McCain? Make sure they get the facts.

Technorati Tags: John McCain George Bush Out of Touch Progressive Media

Bitter? Why Would Anybody Be Bitter?

Obama answers Hillary and McSame in Terre Haute IN

Have you been following the latest spin barrage being aimed at Obama by Team Clinton: The Dynasty, almost hand in hand with the GOP's assault? Oh, it was just so condescending of Barack to mention at a small fundraiser how folks in small town, Rust Belt and middle-class America might be feeling bitter about their lot in life. So bitter and cynical that they no longer believe the promises of politicos to bring them good-paying jobs, access to quality health care or level playing field justice.

So trampled in body and spirit that they turn insular and cling to their guns, religion, ethinicity or family -- or whatever else helps them feel more secure. And that this can make them vulnerable to the craven use of wedge issues by the right. And that they often end up voting against their own economic interests. Sound familiar? That analysis has been conventional wisdom for years but, to the Clintonista camp and its backers, the concept is suddenly scandalous and insulting. My, my.

What I like about Obama is that he -- unlike so many Dems -- doesn't run from gotcha spin that distorts what he says and what he believes in. Instead, he goes at the issue head on, confidently and clearly explaining how his words are being twisted, and why. Listen to what he says in the video above, to a crowd in Terre Haute, Indiana. Watch how they stand and cheer at the end. I call that connection. He doesn't cower. He clicks in. This is why he can win in November, with an electorate sick to death of the slick spinelessness that characterizes so many insider pols of all stripes.

Here's what Obama said:

“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Clinton Campaign in Full Drudge Mode
The Clinton II campaign has seized on this, enlisted their big media buddies and instructed their operatives to spread the word that this statement shows that Obama is elitist, doesn't understand middle class Americans and would be a weak candidate. One quote:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has criticized the remarks with zeal, saying Mr. Obama is trying to divide the country between “those who are enlightened and those who are not.”

And how about :

... the Clinton campaign fueled the controversy in every place and every way it could, hoping charges that Obama is elitist and arrogant will resonate with the swing voters the candidates are vying for not only in Pennsylvania, but in upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina as well.

... They handed out "I'm not bitter" stickers in North Carolina, and held a conference call of Pennsylvania mayors to denounce the Illinois senator. In Indiana, Clinton did the work herself, telling plant workers in Indianapolis that Obama's comments were "elitist and out of touch."

What Hillary and her cohorts are doing, once again, is using the kind of branding long used by Repubs against Dems -- and doing it against one of their own. We all know by now that Democrats are allegedly "elitist," and "out of touch" and "latte drinking Volvo drivers." You know the litany that's been used for years, uttered by right-wingers who really have been working for decades to create the present economic tragedy that's now building to a crescendo across America and the globe. We've all seen the deregulate everything, greed-market movement at work -- and how it's destroyed so much of the middle class while creating an investor class that's wealthy beyond belief, reason or merit.

I guess Hillary sees herself as one of them, using their favorite slurs to try and wring out votes and manage to stay in her unwinnable race by any means necessary -- no matter who or what she hurts in the process. Think about it. Isn't it "smart politics," from the Clinton point of view, to smear Obama and try to force him from the race? Or make sure he won't win in November? Why else would the messaging about this molehill coming from the Clinton camp be exactly the same as the messaging about it coming from the GOP and McCain?

As Jane Smiley puts it:

So now, Barack Obama tells the truth about conditions as we know them--that the countryside and the small towns are dying in many places in our country, and that the corporatocracy doesn't care enough to do a thing about it. He points out that immigrant-baiting, gay-baiting, gun-baiting, and religious pandering have helped to destroy those towns and that countryside, that those being destroyed have been cynically enlisted by their very own destroyers to provide the votes that help accomplish the destruction. And this is what Senator Hillary Clinton says about it: "Senator Obama's remarks were elitist and out of touch. They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans."

The Masks Fall Away
I submit that the last remaining threads of the "for the people" and "for the Party" masks that Bill and Hillary have long used to cover their special brand of political expediency and corporatist zeal have finally fallen away. What is revealed is an ugly truth about their amoral and immoral ambition. Shame on them. I don't understand how any real Democrat can support them any longer.
*******

PS: In need of some black humor hysterics after this dour post? Go read Hunter. I still haven't caught my breath after reading it ....

Technorati Tags:Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, middle class, economy, working class, Democrats, Pennsylvania, Indiana, bitter

Latest Obama-Clinton Polling

Obama is still trending up in the two major national tracking polls during a period when Clinton's Bosnia sniper fantasy dominated much of the coverage. I'd guess this will continue when the impacts of the Clinton tax return release and Mark Penn's serious conflict of interest on Colombian "free" trade enter the picture.

NATIONAL

Gallup daily tracking poll. 4/4-6. Likely voters. MoE 4% (4/2-5 results)

Obama 52 (49)
Clinton 43 (46)

Rasmussen daily tracking poll. 4/3-6. Likely voters. MoE 3% (4/3-5 results)

Obama 51 (50)
Clinton 41 (42)

UPDCOMING PRIMARY STATES
Clinton's still leading in Indiana anywhere from 3 to 10 points, but Obama has made inroads. She's way ahead in Kentucky. The results in both states essentially  match expectations. Obama is dramatically ahead in North Carolina, as predicted. In Pennsylvania, Obama seems to be closing the gap rather dramatically, at least according to the two most recent polls, although results are all over the map. Suffice it to say the race in PA is in flux:

INDIANA

Pollster	Dates	N/Pop	Clinton	Obama	Undecided
ARG	4/2-3/08	600 LV	53	44	2
Research 2000	3/31-4/2/08	400 LV	49	46	2
SurveyUSA	3/29-31/08	530 LV	52	43	1

KENTUCKY

Pollster	Dates	N/Pop	Clinton	Obama	Undecided
SurveyUSA	3/28-30/08	572 LV	58	29	4

NORTH CAROLINA

Pollster	Dates	N/Pop	Clinton	Obama	Undecided
PPP (D)	4/5-6/08	928 LV	33	54	13
Rasmussen	4/3/08	704 LV	33	56	11
Charlotte Observer	3/29-4/1/08	400 LV	26	35	39
ARG	3/29-30/08	600 LV	38	51	7

PENNSYLVANIA

Pollster	Dates	N/Pop	Clinton	Obama	Undecided
ARG	4/5-6/08	600 LV	45	45	6
InsiderAdvantage	4/2/08	659 LV	45	43	12
Muhlenberg	3/27-4/2/08	406 LV	51	41	6
PPP (D)	3/31-4/1/08	1224 LV	43	45	13
Rasmussen	3/31/08	730 LV	47	42	11
SurveyUSA	3/29-31/08	LV	53	41	2
Quinnipiac	3/24-31/08	1549 RV	50	41	8
Strategic Vision (R)	3/28-30/08	LV	49	41	10

All polling data from https://www.pollster.com/.

Hillary in ABQ: One Hour Plus, 200 Dems, $150,000

Clinton cups her ear as reporters ask her about Mark Penn at Albuquerque's Sunport after her fundraiser (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

The price of admission to the fundraiser for Hillary Clinton Sunday afternoon at former Ambassador Ed Romero's home in Albuquerque was given as either $2300 (the maximum that can be donated by an individual to a candidate in the primary cycle), or $1000 for "friends." According to a story in the Albuquerque Journal, about 200 "elite Dems" (obviously NOT including Gov. Bill Richardson) attended the event, and more than $150,000 was reportedly raised for Clinton's campaign. That comes out to about $750 per attendee, nowhere near the suggested donation levels per person if the numbers are correct. If each donor gave even the lower suggested amount, the event should have raised $200,000. A number of attendees reportedly brought their children or grandchildren so maybe that accounts in part for the lower per person figure. The hosts, however, seemed pleased:

Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, one of the co-hosts of the fundraiser, said $150,000 was an initial goal but added it appeared Sunday's total will be more than that. "We exceeded our goal," said Romero, who served as ambassador under Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton. "Everybody's happy with (the event), including the candidate."

According to the Journal story, Clinton was gung ho about her chances in the race:

"I want to tell you, the campaign is going so well," Clinton said. She said anyone who believes she should bow out of her race against Barack Obama, who leads in the delegate count, should take a lesson from college basketball's Final Four.

"Why should anybody play North Carolina? You saw what happened last night," Clinton said, referring to Kansas' upset win over the Tar Heels.

A major problem with her analogy, however, is that there are only so many "points" available for her to win in the remaining primary cycle. Unless Clinton achieves miraculous results in the 10 remaining contests -- as in 65-35 splits in every state -- she won't have enough pledged delegates or enough of the total popular vote to overtake Obama's leads in those categories. Her only hope would seem to be to convince enough superdelegates to back her so she can best Obama in total delegates, despite the will of the voters. Or she could hold out hoping that the Obama campaign implodes in a dramatic fashion, with our without assistance from her campaign.

Arriving around 4:30 PM, Hillary spent a little more than an hour at the reception in Albuquerque's foothills, having jetted in from a previous event in Montana on a day when news broke that Mark Penn was forced to relinquish his role as the chief strategist in her campaign. According to Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams, Penn himself, as well as his polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, will still be involved in the campaign but in a diminished role.

At the Sunport after event. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

According to a Washington Post story:

Penn had been a polarizing figure within the Clinton campaign for months because of his personality as well as his strategic vision, but his departure came as a result of another continuing controversy -- the conflicts of interest that resulted from his representing major clients as president of Burson-Marsteller, the giant public relations firm, while working for Clinton.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Penn had met with Colombia's ambassador to the United States to discuss promotion of a free-trade agreement, one that Clinton opposes. Penn apologized Friday for an "error in judgment," and the Colombian government responded a day later by firing Burson-Marsteller.

... Joe Trippi, a senior adviser for the presidential campaign of former senator John Edwards (N.C.), said Penn's decision to keep leading Burson-Marsteller while working for Clinton never made much sense.

"The only real question was, why did it not happen sooner?" Trippi said of Penn's ouster. "The conflicts have been a problem for the campaign from the start."

Thursday Reading: Courting the Low Information Voter, One Lama at a Time

La O-Bamba

Another great post over at What Do I Know? by Democrat Abroad Kathy Flake, this one about the swirling myths surrounding a certain Dem prez candidate. Many of us know (and miss) Kathy and her nonstop activism that used to be a fixture in the progressive Dem community here in Albuquerque back in the Deaniac-Miles Nelsoniac era. She's been living outside London for -- how many years is it now? Too many. At least from our point of view. But we do have her wide-ranging, enlightening and often very funny blogging from overseas to hold us over.

Like me, she's a big fan of Obama and Martin Heinrich. The Dean People of yore have a tendency to be attracted to the same candidates, for similar reasons. Kathy posted a fab piece on Martin last week. If you get a chance, go read Solar Cars, Homegrown Broccoli, and Martin Heinrich.

And Kathy -- the DNC Convention bunch has yet to receive an application from Democrats Abroad to be the group's credentialed blogger at the August convention in Denver. You know what to do.

Obama Would Grant High Level Role to Gore

Another superb reason to support Barack Obama. According to an :

Sen. Barack Obama said Wednesday he would give Al Gore, a Nobel prize winner, a major role in an Obama administration to address the problem of global warming. At a town-hall meeting, Obama was asked if he would tap the former vice president for his Cabinet to handle global warming.

"I would," Obama said. "Not only will I, but I will make a commitment that Al Gore will be at the table and play a central part in us figuring out how we solve this problem. He's somebody I talk to on a regular basis. I'm already consulting with him in terms of these issues, but climate change is real. It is something we have to deal with now, not 10 years from now, not 20 years from now."

Given Gore's less than friendly relationship with the Clintons, I highly doubt Hillary would have Gore anywhere near her administration, in any role. Sad, but true.

Gov. Richardson Responds to Carville (and Bill Clinton?) Insults in WaPo Op-Ed

Besides being a response to James Carville's repetitive comments and WaPo op-ed about Gov. Bill Richardson being a "Judas" for endorsing Barack Obama, Richardson's piece below may well have been partially precipitated by a red-faced tirade staged by Bill Clinton last Sunday during a meeting with superdelegates in California where he lashed out at Richardson and others. Read all about it. Then read Richardson's reasoned and articulate op-ed in its entirety:

Op-Ed WashingtonPost.com: Loyalty to My Country By Bill Richardson
Tuesday, April 1, 2008; 10:29 AM

My recent endorsement of Barack Obama for president has been the subject of much discussion and consternation -- particularly among supporters of Hillary Clinton.

Led by political commentator James Carville, who makes a living by being confrontational and provocative, Clinton supporters have speculated about events surrounding this endorsement and engaged in personal attacks and insults.

While I certainly will not stoop to the low level of Mr. Carville, I feel compelled to defend myself against character assassination and baseless allegations.

Carville has made it very clear that this is a personal attack -- driven by his own sense of what constitutes loyalty. It is this kind of political venom that I anticipated from certain Clinton supporters and I campaigned against in my own run for president.

I repeatedly urged Democrats to stop attacking each other personally and even offered a DNC resolution calling for a positive campaign based on the issues. I was evenhanded in my efforts. In fact, my intervention in a debate during a particularly heated exchange was seen by numerous commentators as an attempt to defend Sen. Clinton against the barbs of Sens. Obama and John Edwards.

As I have pointed out many times, and most pointedly when I endorsed Sen. Obama, the campaign has been too negative, and we Democrats need to calm the rhetoric and personal attacks so we can come together as a party to defeat the Republicans.

More than anything, to repair the damage done at home and abroad, we must unite as a country. I endorsed Sen. Obama because I believe he has the judgment, temperament and background to bridge our divisions as a nation and make America strong at home and respected in the world again.

This was a difficult, even painful, decision. My affection and respect for the Clintons run deep. I do indeed owe President Clinton for the extraordinary opportunities he gave me to serve him and this country. And nobody worked harder for him or served him more loyally, during some very difficult times, than I did.

Carville and others say that I owe President Clinton's wife my endorsement because he gave me two jobs. Would someone who worked for Carville then owe his wife, Mary Matalin, similar loyalty in her professional pursuits? Do the people now attacking me recall that I ran for president, albeit unsuccessfully, against Sen. Clinton? Was that also an act of disloyalty?

And while I was truly torn for weeks about this decision, and seriously contemplated endorsing Sen. Clinton, I never told anyone, including President Clinton, that I would do so. Those who say I did are misinformed or worse.

As for Mr. Carville's assertions that I did not return President Clinton's calls: I was on vacation in Antigua with my wife for a week and did not receive notice of any calls from the president. I, of course, called Sen. Clinton prior to my endorsement of Sen. Obama. It was a difficult and heated discussion, the details of which I will not share here.

I do not believe that the truth will keep Carville and others from attacking me. I can only say that we need to move on from the politics of personal insult and attacks. That era, personified by Carville and his ilk, has passed and I believe we must end the rancor and partisanship that has mired Washington in gridlock. In my view, Sen. Obama represents our best hope of replacing division with unity. That is why, out of loyalty to my country, I endorse him for president.

The writer is governor of New Mexico and a former Democratic candidate for president.

National Politicos Converging on New Mexico

Hillary Clinton will be jetting in and out of Albuquerque on Sunday for a big-ticket fundraiser organized by former Ambassador to Spain, Ed Romero:

At Clinton's fundraiser, invitees will pay $2,300 to be "sponsors," while "friends" pay $1,000 for the catered event of Spanish tapas, wine and sherry. Romero declined to say how much Clinton hopes to raise.

The guest list will include Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, former state Democratic Party chairman John Wertheim and former Ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame, who says she was outed as a CIA operative after her husband criticized the Bush administration's handling of prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Payback for Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama? I wouldn't be surprised. What I am surprised about is that the hosts are seeking funds for Clinton's lagging prez campaign at a time when local cash donations are in high demand here. With all three U.S. House seats and Domenici's U.S. Senate seat up for grabs, Dem candidates in New Mexico are scrambling hard for contributions, especially after so many resources went to support Gov. Richardson's prez run. Reports are abundant that the Clinton campaign is running out of cash and delaying payments to vendors, as pressure builds from many quarters for her to withdraw from an increasingly unwinnable race and Obama continues to snag endorsements from prominent superdelegates.

GOP Tamaya Huddle
Meanwhile, out at Santa Ana Pueblo's Hyatt Regency Tamaya near Bernalillo we've got a big meeting going on this week of the GOP State Party Chairs from all over the nation, led by Republican National Committee Chair Mike Duncan (right). Duncan has made it clear that the Repubs will be targeting New Mexico with everything they've got in the 2008 election cycle:

"New Mexico is a battleground target state for us," Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan told The Associated Press. "We recognize it's going to be an important state for us."

Darren White: GOP Beltway Fave
Besides touting the prez campaign of John McCain, the RNC is also taking sides early and rallying around the Congressional candidacy of Darren White in NM-01 -- to the detriment of the Party's other primary candidate, State Sen. Joe Carraro.

It's unusual for the national or state party to openly take sides in a contested primary race, but Duncan said party rules allow that when requested by a state's RNC members. New Mexico's three RNC members, who include state chairman Allen Weh, submitted a letter to the national party asking it to treat White as the presumptive nominee. The letter was sent after White received 85 percent of the vote of delegates at the party's preprimary nominating convention in mid-March.

Of course the RNC will be pushing hard for Darren White -- he was the Bush campaign's chair in Bernalillo County in 2004. Repub bigwigs know that Darren's loyalty will always be given first and foremost to the Beltway rightwing establishment. If elected (heaven forbid), he'll be a dependable supporter of the insider Repub agenda whether it benefits New Mexicans or not. White has always answered to the demands of the GOP extremists in DC. What's worse is that he seems to sincerely believe in the policies that have brought us a quagmire in Iraq, an economic tsunami at home, a compromised Constitution, a broken health care system and a dearth of good-paying jobs.

Breaking: Gov. Bill Richardson Quits to Become Strategist for Obama Campaign

I just got word that Gov. Bill Richardson has resigned his post as New Mexico Governor to serve as one of Barack Obama's primary campaign strategists. The unexpected move was greeted with shock on the part of politicos on both sides of the aisle. However, James Carville, who commented he wasn't surprised that "Judas" Richardson would abandon his New Mexico constituents as easily as he did the Clintons, was one of the few who seemed to take the news in stride.

Asked about Richardson's decision to join his campaign, Barack Obama said only that he and Bill were fired up and ready to go! The two were expected to begin their collaboration by challenging Hillary and Mark Penn to bowl a few frames in Pittsburgh.

See the comments for details about the duties Richardson is expected to assume on the Obama campaign.

Clinton's Lead Cut to 5 in Latest PA Rasmussen Poll

According to yesterday's Rasmussen poll in Pennsylvania:

Senator Hillary Clinton’s lead in the Pennsylvania Primary is shrinking. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Pennsylvania shows Clinton leading Barack Obama by just five percentage points, 47% to 42%. For Clinton, that five-point edge is down from a ten-point lead a week ago, a thirteen-point lead in mid-March and a fifteen-point advantage in early March.

Support for Clinton slipped from 52% early in March, to 51% in mid-month, 49% a week ago, and 47% today. During that same time frame, support for Obama has increased from 37% to 42%.

You can see the poll's questions and results here. The phone survey contacted 730 Dem primary voters. Margin of error plus/minus 4%.

By the way, Obama won the most delegates in Texas after allocations were completed during this weekend's Dem county conventions in the state. Combining the results of both the Texas primary and caucuses, Obama won a total of 99 delegates to Clinton's 94.