Election 2008

Obama Blasts Both Rivals Over Iraq Positions

Reuters  |  Mar 19, 08 6:17 PM CDT

(Newser) - Barack Obama laid into both presidential rivals on the Iraq war today, chiding John McCain for misspeaking about terror groups there and criticizing Hillary Clinton for voting to authorize the conflict. "We heard Sen. McCain confuse Sunni and Shi'ite, Iran and al-Qaeda," Obama said, pouncing on McCain for errantly accusing Iran of training Sunni Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Iran is known to train Shi'ite extremists. More »

Speech on Race Won Hearts and Minds, if Not Votes

Washington Post  |  Mar 19, 08 4:22 PM CDT

(Newser) - The day after Barack Obama tackled the race issue head-on, journalists are weighing its lasting effects:  Eugene Robinson credits Obama with reframing the dialogue on race, moving it beyond "the sour stasis of grievance and countergrievance.” Its most significant aspect: laying out the reasons some in both races feel alienated and resentful. More »

GOP Sees Pastor as Route to Nov. Win

Politico  |  Mar 19, 08 1:07 PM CDT

(Newser) - After scrounging for ways to combat Barack Obama's appeal, Republican strategists now believe Rev. Jeremiah Wright is the perfect play to drag the Democrat through the mud in the general election. Said one of the inflammatory Wright clips making the rounds, “You start getting some sense of who he is and it’s not the Obama you thought—he’s not the Tiger Woods of politics.” More »

Clinton Camp Blames Obama for Blocking Mich. Re-Vote

Detroit News  |  Mar 19, 08 1:00 PM CDT

(Newser) - As a re-vote for Michigan Democrats looks less likely, Hillary Clinton put blame squarely at her rival’s feet, with one spokesman calling Barack Obama's approach “a passive-aggressive effort … to disenfranchise the voters.” Meanwhile, Obama's campaign for the first time expressed opposition to do-over legislation, the Detroit News reports, noting concern over private funding of a public election. More »

Clinton to Release First Lady Schedules

Associated Press  |  Mar 19, 08 8:33 AM CDT

(Newser) - The public can finally get a look at Hillary Clinton’s record as first lady—all 11,046 pages of it. The National Archives will release all of Clinton's daily schedules, it announced yesterday, responding to a Freedom of Information Act request made almost a year ago. The documents detail Clinton’s comings and goings, including meetings, trips, speaking engagements, and social functions. More »

John Murtha, War Critic, Backs Clinton

CQPolitics  |  Mar 19, 08 3:30 AM CDT

(Newser) - John Murtha, the Pennsylvania congressman who has become a leading critic of the Iraq war, is endorsing Hillary Clinton for president, CQ Politics reports. “I know that Senator Clinton has a similar position that I have in regards to the war in Iraq,” Murtha said. While both he and Clinton voted to authorize the use of military force, Murtha publicly denounced the Iraq war in a noted 2005 speech. More »

Thank You, Sex Scandal!

Der Spiegel  |  Mar 18, 08 5:50 PM CDT

(Newser) - Here's to the US sex scandal! Eliot Spitzer and Larry Craig make American politicians seem almost human, Gabor Steingart writes in Der Spiegel . He claims that prudish Americans are fueled by secret lust—"and, in the case of some politicians, naked lunacy." Which makes public shame "an invaluable benefit" to the body politic. More »

Clinton, McCain Tax Returns Remain a Mystery

McClatchy Newspapers  |  Mar 18, 08 1:29 PM CDT

(Newser) - As Hillary Clinton and John McCain continue to sit on their tax returns—both candidates have promised to make them public next month—watchers wonder what’s hiding in their file cabinets. Clinton draws particular interest because she and Bill Clinton have seen their wealth balloon from $1.2 million to $50 million since he left office, McClatchy reports. More »

Obama Speech Doesn't Sway Pundits

Talking Points Memo  |  Mar 18, 08 12:36 PM CDT

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s milestone speech on race today covered a lot of ground, and first reactions vary from laudatory on the left to unsatisfied on the right: Greg Sargent of Talking Points Memo says the candidate went “big big big” by making his story a “realization of American history.” His defense of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright was "a break with political precedent, in that he's asking voters to look beyond the cartoon of controversy to see a more complex picture." More »

Obama Calls for Racial Unity

CNN  |  Mar 18, 08 10:46 AM CDT

(Newser) - Barack Obama tackled the issue of race in a candid and risky speech this morning, recounting America’s racial history and acknowledging both black anger and white resentment “we’ve never really worked through.” He denounced the divisive statements of his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, saying they "denigrate the goodness and the greatness of our nation," but he said he could "no more disown him" than he could his own white grandmother, who sometimes succumbed to racial stereotypes. More »

Obama Pastor Being 'Lynched,' Faithful Say

Washington Post  |  Mar 18, 08 9:35 AM CDT

(Newser) - Black pastors and parishioners—including the 3,000 who packed Trinity Church in Chicago Sunday—are leaping to the defense of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who's drawn a firestorm of criticism for his incendiary rhetoric on racism, the Washington Post reports. A pamphlet circulating the pews decried Wright’s treatment in the media as a “modern-day lynching.” “We are all being vilified,” the new pastor said. “This is an attack on the African American church tradition.” More »

Obama Readies Major Speech on Race

Chicago Tribune  |  Mar 18, 08 6:56 AM CDT

(Newser) - Barack Obama will deliver a major speech on race and politics in America in Philadelphia this morning. The candidate will address the racial issues that have dominated the campaign in recent days, fueled by the firestorm over the divisive remarks of Jeremiah Wright, Obama's former pastor. An aide told the Chicago Tribune that the Illinois senator's speech will be "very candid." More »

Obama: Can He Make White Men Jump?

Washington Post  |  Mar 17, 08 8:16 PM CDT

(Newser) - White men have become key swing voters in the Democratic race, the Washington Post reports, and Barack Obama has failed to woo them. His success with the subset in Wisconsin and Virginia was a major breakthrough, pundits say, but he couldn't make white men jump in Texas and Ohio—turning the crucial states to Hillary Clinton and reviving her campaign. More »

Florida Dems Nix Primary Do-Over