Spin Cycle

Video: Edwards' speech

2008-05-15T03:26:44Z

Here's the endorsement:

Picture: Barack and John

2008-05-15T00:31:08Z

Drudge headlines this foto, "The ticket?"

Video: NARAL, and some dissent

2008-05-15T00:16:53Z

In this video, NARAL president Nancy Keenan explains the endorsement of Obama. One clue: Where she says we "can't wait one more day" to begin the campaign against McCain -- reflecting wider Dem concerns that the extended primary is giving McCain a free ride for too long.

She also has a HuffPost blog posting here.

But the NARAL blog page indicates that there's a fair amount of dissent -- 1790 comments are posted so far, and a lot of them negative: "I have never been so disgusted." "I am outraged." "I am insulted." "I am extremely disappointed."

One more: "What do you think you are saying to Senator Clinton? Is this your response to her life long work for women, mothers, children? Do you need to see her speech in Beijing?...I could go on pages, suffice it to say, women support women - you know that. I know you know that."

Obama apologizes to "sweetie"

2008-05-14T23:27:56Z

Earlier, we posted a video of Obama calling a female reporter "sweetie" during a campaign swing in Michigan. He now has called her, and left a voicemail on her cell phone apologizing. You can listen to the apology here:

"Hi Peggy. This is Barack Obama. I'm calling to apologize on two fronts. One was you didn't get your question answered and I apologize. I thought that we had set up interviews with all the local stations. I guess we got it with your station but you weren't the reporter that got the interview. And so, I broke my word. I apologize for that and I will make up for it.

"Second apology is for using the word 'sweetie.' That's a bad habit of mine. I do it sometimes with all kinds of people. I mean no disrespect and so I am duly chastened on that front. Feel free to call me back. I expect that my press team will be happy to try to make it up to you whenever we are in Detroit next."

Edwards: A few thoughts

2008-05-14T23:09:12Z

The question about the Edwards endorsement is, Why Now?

1. He probably thinks Obama has it locked, and it's time for it to end.

1.5. He probably thinks that since Obama has it locked, it's not a healthy thing for him to be suffering 40-point losses in Appalachia.

2. In between West Virginia and Kentucky, on the assumption that white working class voters actually listen to him, he can maybe do Obama some good. He got 7 percent of the vote in WV last night. Maybe he can help cut that 40-point margin down.

3. Will he actually campaign for Obama in Kentucky?

4. It's probably the last moment where his endorsement has some real value. So, as a pure political calculation -- which is what it appears to be -- it was now or never.

5. He could want support for his issues (poverty, especially).

6. Even though he says he's not interested in VP, maybe he is.

7. Maybe he got annoyed at something Clinton said. But her comment about white voters was last week, and she seemed to be on her good behavior last night in WV.

Now: Edwards endorsing

2008-05-14T22:41:10Z

In Grand Rapids, introduced by Obama as "my friend," Edwards enters to "The Rising" by Springsteen.

First, on Hillary, to a very mixed crowd reaction:

"She believes with every fiber of her being that American can be a better place.... It is very very hard to fight and speak up when the odds turn against you. She has shown strength and determination...." She is "made of steel." She is a leader in this country "not because of her husband," but because of "standing up and speaking out."

"We are a stronger party because of Hillary Clinton."

On to Obama:

He riffs on "two Americas," special interests, people in poverty -- the ballast of his campaign: "Barack Obama stands with me."

"The reason I am here tonight is that the Democratic voters in America have made their choice and so have I....There is one who knows how to build the lasting change that you have to build from the ground up... and that man is Barack Obama."

So he casts himself as following the will of the voters....not so much leading it. After all, he really couldn't make up his mind.

"One America is not only possible but it will be achieved by President Barack Obama beginning in January, 2009."

Obama thanks him and thanks Elizabeth -- who is apparently not endorsing -- and promises to work for health care for everyone. Which, if reports are correct, has been her hangup -- she likes Hillary's plan more than Obama's.

McAuliffe on Edwards: Brave face

2008-05-14T22:28:40Z

Terry McAuliffe issues the response to the Edwards endorsement:

“We respect John Edwards, but as the voters of West Virginia showed last night, this thing is far from over.”

Clinton: Dumbest?

2008-05-14T22:09:25Z

Missed this earlier, but Clinton did an interview this afternoon on CNN, and was asked about her comment last week that Obama couldn't get support from hardworking "white Americans:

Wolf Blitzer: "Now, your great friend and supporter Congressman Charlie Rangel said and I’m quoting now. 'It’s the dumbest thing you could have said.' "

Hillary's response: "Well, he’s probably right."

On a day when Obama called a female reporter "sweetie," that moment of candor probably earns her a pass on the issue.

Here's a link to video.

Hillary: Windows seem to be closing

2008-05-14T21:46:08Z

In addition to Edwards and NARAL, Obama unveils two additional superdelegates this afternoon, bringing his tally for the day to 6: Wisconsin Superdelegate State Senator Lena Taylor ("He’s awakened a sleeping giant – the people") and Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Morgan ("He understands bringing people together").

So, momentum from West Virginia is fairly gone.

The Clinton campaign, apparently caught by surprise by the NARAL endorsement of Obama, has scheduled a 6:15 presser at which 24 Congresswomen supporting Hillary (including Carolyn McCarthy) will "discuss Hillary's strong pro-choice record."

The problem: No one is disputing Hillary's strong pro-choice record.

These endorsements are occurring because people are concluding that she no longer has a viable shot at the nomination, but she has not reached the same conclusion.

And with the Edwards endorsement, the NARAL endorsement doesn't even seem like the biggest problem the Clinton camp needs to address tonight.....

Reports: Edwards endorsing Obama (Updated)

2008-05-14T21:21:49Z

Several reports that Edwards is endorsing Obama, confirmed by Thrush in our DC bureau, who calls it "a major blow to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s flagging presidential campaign."

Endorsement: Emily's mad at NARAL

2008-05-14T21:10:52Z

Emily's List raises money to help female candidates. Its head, Ellen Malcolm, is a huge Clinton supporter. She puts out a statement, denouncing NARAL for endorsing Obama:

"I think it is tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton - who held up the nomination of a FDA commissioner in order to force approval of Plan B and who spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination about the importance of protecting Roe vs. Wade - to not give her the courtesy to finish the final three weeks of the primary process. It certainly must be disconcerting for elected leaders who stand up for reproductive rights and expect the choice community will stand with them."

The answer: Hasn't Hillary brought this on herself?

She could have withdrawn. She hasn't. It's up to her. She doesn't think she's hurting the party or Obama.

But others are entitled to disagree, aren't they? And back Obama if, unlike Hillary, they think his nomination is inevitable?

Video: Bloomberg feigns ignorance on 'Maintaingate'

2008-05-14T20:28:41Z

So Bloomberg, two days after getting indignant about a Newsday reporter's use of the word "maintain," now acts like the whole thing never happened. Does he have a stand-in with a limited grasp of the English language?

Having indignantly lectured our Michael Frazier on Monday about behaving unprofessionally by saying in a question that the mayor "maintained" something (which Bloomberg said insinuated that he was a liar), we hoped Bloomberg would respond to publicity about the incident by either apologizing for losing his temper, or offering some defense of his strange interpretation of a heretofore uncontroversial word.

But apparently Bloombergs don't apologize when they can maintain ignorance:

Video via Azi at the Politicker.

McCain: Let's make fun of his age!

2008-05-14T20:03:12Z

In the early going, John McCain seems to have had some success in establishing a double-standard on one issue: He can complain that Obama is inexperienced, but Obama can't say McCain is too old.

One option for Obama is code -- McCain's campaign last week accused Obama of suggesting the GOPer was senile when he said McCain had "lost his bearings." But in reality, Obama doesn't have to resort to code -- age references are going to become pretty much a staple of the pop culture/ comedy circuit.

Witness a clever new website called "Things Younger Than Republican Presidential Candidate John McCain," or www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com for short, that was discovered by our Reid Epstein.

It is devoted to writeups of various things that are... younger than McCain -- including shopping carts, cheerios, the Golden Gate Bridge (1937), the Slinky ("Before the Slinky, kids played with rocks and sticks. And before that, John McCain was born"), the Chocolate Chip cookie (1937 at Massachusetts' Toll House Restaurant), and nylon stockings:

"Nylon was first used commercially in a nylon-bristled toothbrush in 1938 - which makes me wonder what Ma and Pa McCain were using until then to brush little Johnny’s first teeth. It then grew in popularity as something that soldiers could give their wives to keep them off the trail of their girlfriends (and vice versa)."

Hillary on Python: Black knight or dead parrot?

2008-05-14T19:50:13Z

We aren't ready to write off Sen. Clinton's chances yet, but in other quarters the Democratic primary campaign is being compared to a Monty Python skit. But which one?

Is she the Dead Parrot?

Or is she the Black Knight?

Video: Obama: "Sweetie"????

2008-05-14T19:07:44Z

Meanwhile, in a particularly smart move, Obama celebrates his NARAL endorsement and tries to woo Hillary's female backers into his camp by calling a lady reporter "sweetie." Did someone tell him that's what the gun-clinging white rural folk call their women?

Via Politico.