Bill Clinton coaxes voters into windowless vanBill Clinton always excelled at telling stories. Facing a tough question from a somber-looking vet? Tell a story. Bleary-eyed after hitting several California cities in a single day campaigning on behalf of your wife? Tell a story. Trying to convince undecided voters your family isn't an inhuman band of relentless over-achievers that hasn't experienced what most Americans might consider a normal day in decades? Tell a story.
Joined by Gavin Newsom, that's what Bill Clinton did again for voters yesterday at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Told a bunch of stories.
What didn’t make sense was why Bill Clinton spent so much time on Monday canvassing California when Hillary’s people have acted as if the state was a lock. By the way, who are the badasses working for her that so brilliantly managed to make C.W. Nevius the vehicle of a localized, anti-Obama whisper campaign? Those bastards are earning their keep.
Hillary's latest commercial
The state seemed like it was in Hillary's hands just a few short weeks ago and her camp acted confident that it owned the place. But when we gathered around a laptop with Oakland Tribune political reporter Josh Richman before Newsom hit the stage, her lead over Obama was swimming in the margin of error, according to Realclearpolitics.com.
Gallup gave her 20 percentage points on Jan. 20. By Feb. 2, it was just two. The prominent Field Poll put them in a statistical dead heat here. There were about 250 people at the Ferry Building rally, including the 40 or so arranged on stage that looked like a much larger crowd through the viewfinders on the dozen or so television news cameras situated on a raised platform across from them.
To be sure, RCP still had her out front nationally, and several states gave her the lead individually, but the Wall Street Journal posted a story late Monday describing Barack Obama as perfectly capable financially and statistically of withstanding "the Clinton machine." Not to mention, California contains a crucially high volume of delegates, and there’s no winner-take-all for the Dems.
But Hillary's desperate for a win here, and it shows. A radio reporter sitting near us last night said Bill Clinton went on the air live at his station and at one point had grown perturbed with the questioner. We’re not even sure why, but if a politico with his stripes is unnerved by any small-time local radio reporter, something's not right.
Last night's event in San Francisco was part of several town hall meetings held by the Clinton campaign simultaneously nationwide and televised on the Web. It's telling that Bill ended his Cali excursion in the Bay Area, the Democratic stronghold where Hillary and Obama have traded swings for weeks and where both need to maintain control of the donor banks.
Newsom, long an understudy of Bill and backer of Hillary, couldn't have been a better choice for host considering his experience with town halls as an alternative to the visits voters asked him to make to the Board of Supervisors for question time, which, as we know, he refused to indulge.
The mayor invited the crowd to offer questions, and the best one by way of applause would be selected for presentation to Hillary along with the other participating cities later that night (after a brief speech from Bill timed perfectly for live reels on the 6 o'clock news).
And that's where Clinton's genius story-telling mattered most. The majority of the questions were no different and no more specific than anything we've heard for weeks:
"Why doesn't my insurance carrier cover more medical procedures?"
"How did we manage to infuriate so many people in the Middle East?"
"How can we refocus the attention of politicians on the forgotten middle class?"
Every American should be forced to take a small tutorial in asking questions of political candidates when they first fill out their voter registration forms. Ninety percent of the questions asked last night were soft balls with loads of wiggle room that the candidates could answer in their sleep.
Obama's latest commercial
Except for one selected by the crowd to its immense credit. And it was a yes or no question asked first of Bill by a white-haired Vietnam veteran from San Mateo named Jack Harris:
"If elected president, will Hillary Clinton support mandatory funding levels for all Veterans Affairs programs?"
Bill’s response? He told of meeting veterans of the war on terror who needed prosthetic limbs. He recalled from his time as Arkansas governor the stories of Americans who served in Vietnam and returned feeling alienated by the nation they’d served. He even recounted how his daughter, Chelsea, was friends with a Marine who was also a liberal Jew. Such a rare thing to behold, he joked.
But he never got around to actually answering the question. Few could have expected less; lawmakers loathe funding mandates, because they strip away their control over the budget process. It’s one of the chief reasons, right or wrong, given for why California is facing a budget crisis.
So we have to admit we were surprised when later last night, Hillary declared outright that she would invite funding mandates for the VA. The Clinton camp later declared that 250,000 viewers logged onto the Web to watch the town hall presentation. We also saw for the first time what we have to admit was a really damn good commercial from the Clinton people. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cesar L. Chavez both described how their fathers were representatives of the “most disenfranchised of our society,” and today, they proclaimed, that voice is represented by Hillary. It was a solid response to Obama’s compelling commercial filled with loads of young, celebrity faces.
But there are no assurances later when it comes down to it, Hillary Clinton won't just respond to a tough question by telling us all a nice, little story.
When we logged on this morning, Obama was out front in California by the tiniest of margins. As we post this, nobody here in the newsroom is prepared to declare a winner. No doubt, there’s more fun ahead tonight.
Hillary last night on David Letterman
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Comments (6)
Obama said he goofed on votes angered fellow Democrats in the Senate when he voted to strip millions of dollars from a child welfare office on Chicago's West Side. But Obama had a ready explanation: He goofed! Also announced he had fumbled an election-reform vote the day before, on a measure that passed 51 to 6. The next day, he acknowledged voting "present" on a key telecommunications vote. He stood on March 11, 1999, to take back his vote against legislation to end good-behavior credits for certain felons in county jails. "I pressed the wrong button on that," he said. Obama was the lone dissenter on Feb. 24, 2000, against 57 yeas for a ban on human cloning. "I pressed the wrong button by accident," he said.
But two of Obama's bumbles came on more-sensitive topics, he backed legislation to permit riverboat casinos to operate even when the boats were dockside.
The measure, pushed by the gambling industry and fought by church groups whose support Obama was seeking, passed with two "yeas" to spare -- including Obama's. Moments after its passage he rose to say, explaining that he had mistakenly voted for it.
Obama would later develop a reputation as a critic of the gambling industry, and he voted against a similar measure two years later. But he was clearly confused about how to handle the issue at the time of his first vote, telling a church group that he was "undecided" about whether he backed an expansion of riverboat gambling. And, months earlier, he had voted in favor of a version of the bill.
Obama's vote sparked a confrontation after he joined Republicans to block Democrats trying to override a veto by GOP Gov. George Ryan of a $2-million allotment for the west Chicago child welfare office. being responsible," said Sen. Rickey Hendon, accusing Obama of voting to close the child welfare office.Obama replied "I understand Sen. Hendon's anger, I was not aware that I had voted no on that piece of legislation.
Posted by Obama said he goofed on votes | February 5, 2008 12:47 PM
Barack Obama and his fellow state senators considered more than 175 pieces of legislation on a frenetic day in March. Of those measures, Obama voted "present" 31 times! did not show up to vote in the senate often in his short time there, missed 130 votes! will not answer any reporter on how we would voted at the time. But his record after fact shows he supports the war, voted twice in 2006 against bringing America's troops back home. He votes for war appropriations giving our money to Halliburton and Blackwater. His latest bit of posturing S 433 allows the Bush Administration to suspend any troop withdrawal!!!!Which if not suspended, still keeps the troops in Iraq for a long time to come? Obama when faced with tough choices always gave in to pressure from the Bush administration or corporate lobbyists. Such as Obama voted for Bush's energy bill, sending more than $13 billion in subsidies and tax breaks to oil, coal, and nuclear companies. Obama voted with Republicans to allow credit card companies to raise interest rates over 30 percent, increasing hardship for families. Obama voted for one of Bush's top priorities - expanding Nafta to South America - even as President Bush obstructed all the top Democratic priorities. Obama voted with Bush to make it harder for ordinary people to hold big corporations accountable when they do things like sell toxic toys, poisonous pet food, or just plain rip you off. Obama was the Senate's biggest Democratic advocate of subsidies for liquid coal, even though liquid coal produces twice the global warming pollution of the crude oil it's meant to replace (Obama "backed off" this position after being pummeled by environmentalists for several months, but still voted for increased subsidies, albeit with conditions)Obama, a Hamiltonian believer in free trade and supporters of globalization has lent his support to the "Hamilton Project formed by corporate-neoliberal Citigroup chair Robert Rubin and other 'Wall Street Democrats' to counter populist rebellion against corporate tendencies within the Democratic Party. Obama provided assistance to pro-war candidates (such as Joe Lieberman). Obama voted for "business-friendly 'tort reform' bill that rolls back working peoples' ability to obtain reasonable redress and compensation...from corporations!!!
Posted by Obama can't do the job! | February 5, 2008 12:48 PM
ASSOCIATED PRESS-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has lot of explaining to do. He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive. He supported allowing retired police officers to carry concealed weapons, but opposed allowing people to use banned handguns to defend against intruders in their homes. And the list of sensitive topics goes on. With only a slim, two-year record in the U.S. Senate, Obama doesn't have many controversial congressional votes which political opponents can frame into attack ads. But his eight years as an Illinois state senator are sprinkled with potentially explosive land mines, such as his abortion and gun control votes. recent land purchase from a political supporter who is facing charges in an unrelated kickback scheme involving investment firms seeking state business. Abortion opponents see Obama's vote on medical care for aborted fetuses as a refusal to protect the helpless. Some have even accused him of supporting infanticide.
Posted by ASSOCIATED PRESS-Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has lot of explaining to do. | February 5, 2008 12:50 PM
TUNNEL VISION! Petty bickering - leave this to the debate junkies. Look at the BIG PICTURE - who is pulling voters out of apathy and despair? Who is speaking clearly and honestly? Who takes the higher road in politics to join all people together for common good? Nobody is infallible. But we need a leader who talks straight - not a good story teller!
Billary looks more frightening with every discussion.
Posted by MissDeal | February 5, 2008 01:36 PM
No substance here, ironically.
Posted by dc | February 5, 2008 05:40 PM
Hillary Clinton is the most qualified person to be president, ask the military brass and others in the know. Barack Obama is the worst qualified and has only served one year in the senate before running for president. I love my country too much to even consider voting for Obama, who I consider an educated snake oil salesman selling bogus containers of change. If Obama is nominated I will vote for McCain because he's ready day one just like Hillary. I didn't appreciate obama's cocky comment a few days ago when he said I'm going to get Hillary's votes but I'm not sure she can get my votes. Okay, Mr. Cock Of The Walk, you won't get my vote. This country has lost its mind to even consider having Obama strut into the White House to get his groove on as our commander-in-chief.
Posted by STEVE | February 6, 2008 01:12 PM