It's Barack By A Nose

From Barack-Obama.TV

"For the first time Barack Obama is the frontrunner in a reliable nationwide
poll about the Democratic presidential nominations. Obama leads with 32%,
Hillary Clinton can count on 30% and John Edwards trails at 17%. Rasmussen
has conducted the poll around the 25th of April.

Together with earlier reliable opinion polls this results in the graphical overview..."

Rangel: Obama Should Be Veep

From the New York Observer:

Here's the WNBC transcript of the interview, which will air on Sunday:

PRESSMAN: Would a Clinton-Obama ticket be very strong?

Rep. RANGEL: Wow. Well, I'm saying that.

PRESSMAN: You said wow.

Rep. RANGEL: Because I would find it very exciting. But I think that the
Republican bench is so weak that we could get by with more this time than if it was a very close election.

PRESSMAN: Would you lobby Obama to take the number two spot?

Rep. RANGEL: I don't do that. And besides, you know, as I do, that people running for president, they never say they're interested in the number two spot. I mean, they have to let you know that they're running for president and that's all they will consider.

PRESSMAN: Yeah, but all you're doing is sucking your thumb and sort of
thinking about the future. You're not he.

Rep. RANGEL: All I know is that I'm supporting Hillary and once we're over the hill, I'll be glad to get involved and see who would be the best candidate for us to win.

Another Swing Thru NYC for Senator Obama

From gothamist.com

"Senator Barack Obama is coming back to New York City today, for some late TV night face time AND to raise even more money. While Senator Hillary Clinton's camp is playing it cool and Clinton strategist Howard Wolfson telling the Daily News. "We're thrilled with our hometown support," the Post lists all the former Clinton donors who are now supporting Obama. Obama has two fundraisers on his agenda and he'll be appearing on Late Night with David Letterman tonight. Pollsters and consultants say that as much money as Obama raises in New York, Clinton is sure to win the state primary. Which is true - but he can just take the NY cash and spend it elsewhere. And one of Obama's fund-raisers want him to go to Harlem to, as the Post suggests, "[seek] a beachhead in the neighborhood where Bill Clinton keeps an office."

All About the Benjamins, Baby

From the New York Daily News:

"Hillary Clinton thought that raising more money than her rivals would be the easy thing.

Yesterday, she found out how wrong she was.

The Democrat's presidential campaign was rocked to the core as rival Sen. Barack Obama revealed he equaled, and possibly even bested, her in the cash dash she had counted on dominating.

Obama announced he raised $25 million in the past three months from 100,000 people, compared with the record-setting $26 million haul Clinton pulled in from half as many donors."

CHA-CHING!

From cnn.com

"Sen. Barack Obama raised "at least $25 million" for his presidential bid since January 1, all but matching Sen. Hillary Clinton's haul for the same three-month time period. Clinton, the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, earlier this week reported raising $26 million."

Hello

From the Chicago Tribune

"In addition, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), a relative newcomer to the national political scene, is expected to report that he has raised more than $20 million for his presidential bid during the same period, the first quarter of this year, according to three sources in and around his campaign.

Aides to former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina said Sunday that he has raised more than $14 million for his campaign, doubling his first-quarter total from four years ago as he geared up to run for president in 2004."

Obama on Fire

Both Senator's Obama and Clinton spoke at a candidates' forum held by the International Association of Firfighters. Chris Cillizza over at the Washington Post says Hillary won the speech-off.
Judge Senator O's remarks for yourself.

The Bill Factor

The overflow crowd outside Brown's Chapel where Barack Obama was speaking was clearly larger than the one outside First Baptist where Hillary Clinton was in the pulpit. But neither one of them caused the kind of excitement among the crowds that former President Bill Clinton elicited whenever his shock of white hair appeared.

From the Montgomery Advertiser:

An estimated 8,000-11,000 people walked across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge Sunday afternoon, the most to take part in the bridge crossing celebration since almost 20,000 people came in 2000 to see then President Bill Clinton.

Although presidential hopefuls Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton joined a list of civil rights notables in the annual commemoration of “Bloody Sunday“ as well as the successful march from Selma to Montgomery, it was Bill Clinton who was once again the star.

“He’s a rock star. There is just no other word for it,” said Kaye Ivy, 31, of Tuscaloosa. Her 12-year-old Lantz Lipham shook hands with Hillary Clinton and Obama, but started shouting “I got his picture,” when he got a picture of Bill Clinton with his cell phone. The crowd applauded.

Camera flashes were like a strobe light as the former president stepped out of his security vehicle to join in the march. Following the march he was inducted into the National Voting Rights Museum Hall of Fame.

“We want Bill to be the president again!“ said Robin Rembert of Selma. Getting out her cell phone, she began frantically calling a friend. “This is who I’ve been waiting to see all day,“ Rembert said. “I love Bill Clinton.“

But can Bill transfer his popularity to Hill in quantities large enough to beat Obama?
CNN's Queen Crowley asks that very question.

The Selma Secret

The NYT also provided this handy little map to show just how close the churches were.










What VERY few of the news outlets bothered to mention is what lies between the two churches...the George Washington Carver housing projects. A symbol of just how far many black people HAVEN'T come since that march across the Pettus Bridge in 1965.

While Sen. Obama's oratory was more inspiring than Sen. Clinton's - she had one trick up her sleeve besides Big Willie. Hillary took at least a half hour out of all the marching and speechifying to hold a very it-takes-a-villagey meeting with some of the people who run the child care center at those projects. It was the kind of small, face-to-face meeting that could very well help her hold on to some of the votes apparently being siphoned by Obama.

Given Sen. BO's admirable history of working to empower people trapped in public housing - it was surprising that his team did not make sure he spent some quality (highly publicized) time in Carver Homes - and that they did not have him mention the plight of those people...and millions more like them... in at least one of his THREE speeches of the day.

Playing Nice in Selma...But Still Need Buffers

From the NYT
"The visit to Selma, a historically rich, economically struggling city, became a proxy battle for black support between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama, whose candidacy represents a threat to Mrs. Clinton’s traditional base. That competitive dynamic intensified on Sunday with the debut of Mr. Clinton on the campaign trail, six weeks into his wife’s bid, and among a bloc of voters who are at once devoted to the former president and torn between his wife and Mr. Obama.It was the first side-by-side appearance of Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton in the 2008 presidential campaign, and the political theater of the two campaigns overlapped repeatedly, but with a polite tone that contrasted with their political skirmishing of recent weeks."

Pouring It On As Thick As Molases

Obama v. Clinton - The Sermon-Off

Hil's Hometown Paper Calls It: Barack Wins Selma Showdown

The New York Daily News says the junior senator from Illinois bested the junior senator from New York as both gave pulpit speeches on civil rights sacred ground.

Both campaigns spent a carefully choreographed Sunday in Selma, Alabama site of "Bloody Sunday" - the 1965 beatdown Black protesters got while demanded their right to vote.

From the Post:

"Hillary Clinton was very good, Barack Obama was a little better.

In the battle for Selma — and the black vote across the U.S. — yesterday's round went to the senator from Illinois.

Both were greeted enthusiastically at historic black churches, where they pumped up the congregations with fiery speeches. Both were cheered as they marched to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, walking in the steps of civil rights pioneers beaten bloody 42 years ago.

But on a day when two presidential heavyweight contenders came to town, it was Obama's intensely personal and provocative remarks at Brown Chapel AME Church - and the rock-star treatment he received along the route of the march - that gave him an edge."

Guess Who ELSE Is Coming to Selma...

That's right none other that the "First Black President" himself, husband of Hillary, Big Willie, William Jefferson Clinton.

From CBS News:
In competition for a key Democratic voting bloc, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is enlisting the help of her husband, former President Clinton, at a weekend civil rights commemoration headlined by a formidable black rival, Sen. Barack Obama.


From CNN:
"As they battle for support in the black community in their quest for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will attend Sunday's commemoration of the historic 1965 Selma voting rights march.

However, Clinton will bring along a not-so-secret weapon -- her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

"There is no white politician in America who is more popular in the African-American community than Bill Clinton," said Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist. "So she has a very strong card to play."

The results of one recent poll suggest that card is one she may need.

An ABC News-Washington Post survey, taken late last week, found that Obama, from Illinois, was the choice of 44 percent of black Democrats, compared to 33 percent for Hillary Clinton, with a sampling error of plus or minus 8 percentage points. That was a marked shift from the beginning of the year, when she led Obama 60 percent to 20 percent.

However, the poll found that the New York senator's favorable rating among black voters was 85 percent, compared to 70 percent for Obama, although his favorability has climbed 16 points since the beginning of the year.

Rep. John Lewis, D-Georgia, one of the leaders of the Selma march 42 years ago, said the competition for black voters between the senators is "a very difficult position to be in, but it's a good position to be in."

"We have choices," he said.

Simmons said that while black voters have a great deal of loyalty for Bill Clinton, "the question is whether that loyalty transfers to Hillary Clinton, and that's really the test she'll have to meet."

On Sunday in Selma, the former president will be inducted into the Voting Rights Hall of Fame. It will be the first major public appearance the Clintons have made together since Hillary Clinton announced in January that she would seek the Democratic nomination, and political observers will be looking keenly at how well she fares alongside her husband.

"There is, of course, something of a risk that when the Clintons appear next to one another, sometimes Bill can outshine her, and his connection to the community," said political analyst Stu Rothenberg of The Rothenberg Political Report."

Guess Who's Coming to Selma: Barack and Hillary

A new poll shows Obama gaining in popularity among black voters - and this trip to the site of the Civil Rights Movement's "Bloody Sunday" is sure to give him an even stronger foothold in the demographic. Listen to Senator BO's interview on NPR.

Oscar Who?

From the nationalledger.com

Obama v. Clinton. And the Winner Is...

The Chicago Tribune's Clarence Page opines about Clinton and Obama's Oscar Winning Perofrmance

Quickly on the heels of the big crowds and big-money fundraisers came a titanic war of words between the Illinois senator's supporters and those of the presidential frontrunner, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Oh, pass the popcorn!
In this corner, we have movie mogul David Geffen, whom you may recall from earlier episodes of Washington life as a big booster and running buddy of President Bill Clinton. That was so last century.
Last week, Geffen co-hosted a $1.3 million star-studded Beverly Hills fund-raiser for Obama, followed by dinner for a few VIP donors with the senator and his wife, Michelle, at Geffen's palatial home. Geffen also slung a few barbs at Sen. Clinton. In an interview with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, he called her unelectable and raised questions about both Clintons' ethics and trustworthiness. "Everyone in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it's troubling," Geffen told Dowd. Ouch.
Round Two: Clinton's chief spokesman, Howard Wolfson, responded with a demand that Obama disavow attacks from Geffen, whom Wolfson incorrectly called Obama's "finance chair," and return Geffen's money - "If Senator Obama is indeed sincere about his repeated claims to change the tone of our politics," Wolfson said.
In fact, Geffen is only a fundraiser, not a member of Obama's campaign. Obama's chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, dismissed Wolfson's demands.
"We aren't going to get in the middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters," Gibbs said. "It is ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when he was raising them $18 million and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln bedroom." Ouch again.
With that double-barrelled counterpunch, Gibbs reminded everyone of the mid-1990s Lincoln bedroom campaign finance scandals that the Clintons would rather we forgot.

Page (sorta) says the winner is...

"With misgivings about Mrs. Clinton's viability already worrying many in her base, despite her frontrunner status in the polls, I don't see how reminders of the grim side of the Clinton years hurts Obama in any way.
And Wolfson's reaction revealed a curious touchiness for a frontrunner's spokesman. I imagine it must be quite painful for Team Clinton to watch what they see as another free pass for Obama in his mostly favorable media coverage. But, if anyone should know better than to try holding candidates accountable for what each and every one of their supporters say, it is the Clintons.
Meanwhile, Obama was wise to lay low and emerge later at a Houston fundraiser with his halo intact as Senator Peacemaker. He called for an end to the "tit-for-tat" that dominates politics. That was a good move to make before another "tat" could come flying his way from the Clinton camp.
Since the country is waiting with either hope or dread for Obama to stumble in his rapid ascendancy, it says a lot about his instincts and the reflexes of his campaign team that they responded rapidly and passionately to the Hillary aide's jabs. Obama and his people appear to have learned from the mistakes of earlier candidates who let accusations fester for too long in the media boilers until they took on an undeserved appearance of truth.
I often hear from people who complain about news coverage that "focuses on the candidates instead of the issues." But that ignores, in my view, how much the candidates themselves are the issue."

Fidelity Fracas, Leaving Hillary for Barack

From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Arianna Huffington says..."It's like being married, and suddenly you fall in love. You're a good person, and a loyal person ... you have a history with the Clintons,'' she said. "And you feel like you're cheating.''

If some Democrats have cheating on their minds, it coincides with the rise of Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, who has attracted big crowds and evidenced that elusive quality of political charisma, "something you cannot manufacture,'' Huffington said. "It is priceless -- and we haven't seen it for a long time.''

And that has posed trouble for the old love: Hillary Rodham Clinton, the New York senator, front-runner for the Democratic nomination in 2008 and the wife of former President Bill Clinton.

Maureen Dowd: "Baddest One Hit My Hand"

Professional pot-stirrer, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, adds fuel to the Barack Obama - Hillary Clinton fire-fight.

She starts her Wednesday column with a few words from movie-mogul-money-bags and Barack supporter David Geffen...

“Whoever is the nominee is going to win, so the stakes are very high,” says Mr. Geffen, the Hollywood mogul and sultan of “Dreamgirls,” as he sits by a crackling fire beneath a Jasper Johns flag and a matched pair of de Koonings in the house that Jack Warner built (which old-time Hollywood stars joked was the house that God would have built). “Not since the Vietnam War has there been this level of disappointment in the behavior of America throughout the world, and I don’t think that another incredibly polarizing figure, no matter how smart she is and no matter how ambitious she is — and God knows, is there anybody more ambitious than Hillary Clinton? — can bring the country together.

“Obama is inspirational, and he’s not from the Bush royal family or the Clinton royal family. Americans are dying every day in Iraq. And I’m tired of hearing James Carville on television.”

You gotta love it.

Call Don King, Barack and Hillary Stick and Move

Yes the Obama-Clinton jab-a-thon that's been going on for the past few days is fun times. But, the really interesting thing about this ABC News article is the part about John Edwards' appearance on Today.

"This morning, for example, former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., said on NBC's "Today" show: "I think it's awfully early for that sort of sniping back and forth."

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?!?!?!?
Just the night before Edwards was doing pah-lenty of sniping himself at a democratic candidate's forum in Nevada.
In fact it was New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, not Edwards, who took the high road at that event.

"I think if we're going to win we have to be positive," Richardson said. "I think these name-callings are not good."

John, make up your mind. You can't be attack dog AND diplomat at the same time.