Friday, May 9, 2008

Obama v. McCain


Times poll shows Clinton and Obama beating McCain
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA

Despite their infighting, both Democratic presidential candidates would probably defeat the presumptive GOP nominee, the poll finds. Voters doubt McCain can handle the economy.
By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
2:00 PM PDT, May 9, 2008
Washington -- Although Democrats are still tangled in a fractious presidential primary, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama would probably beat presumptive GOP nominee John McCain in the popular vote if the election were held now, according to a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll released today.

McCain remains competitive, but the poll identified one important vulnerability: Voters ranked him lowest among the three candidates on who could best handle the nation's economic problems, by far the most pressing concern for the public irrespective of party, gender or income.

ON DEADLINE: What if Clinton had Obama's lead?
Seattle Times - United States

AP Special Correspondent

Getting out is hard to do for any presidential candidate, doubly so when the name is Clinton. Hillary or Bill, graceful exits are not the Clinton style. Lose an election or an issue and they tend to dig in deeper.

So while Hillary's campaign game is almost up, while she can cling to the slightest chance of overtaking Barack Obama, she won't concede the Democratic presidential nomination.

It is pure guesswork, but consider what would be happening if the roles of Clinton and Obama were reversed, giving her an all but insurmountable lead. The party unity pressure on him to get out, if he hadn't already, would be far more intense than the suggestions that Clinton go. They'd be depicting him as a spoiler. Some of Clinton's people already see him that way - the first-term black senator who got in the way when Clinton was running on a strategy that presumed a quick victory.


Against Obama-Clinton '08
Atlantic Online - USA


Signs (STAN HONDA - AFP - Getty Images).jpg

Stan Honda/Getty Images

In an effort to halt intra-Democratic partisan bloodletting, some, including The Atlantic's own Andrew Sullivan, have suggested that Barack Obama run for president with Hillary Clinton as his running mate. And it seems that some in the Obama camp are taking the idea seriously, so seriously that senior Obama advisors are reportedly weighing whether or not to take on Clinton's campaign debt -- including, amusingly enough, Clinton's campaign debt to herself. Note that Clinton has consistently argued that Obama is not ready for the rigors of the presidency, and not ready to take on America's rivals on the world stage. He is too green, he is too trusting. If Obama does indeed acquiesce to the Clintonites' desperate pleas for some kind of face-saving gesture, he will prove Clinton right.



Obama Open to Help Clinton With Her Campaign Debt

ABC News - USA

Power, pop, and probings from ABC News Senior National Correspondent Jake Tapper

May 09, 2008 6:10 PM

While taking care to say the very question is premature, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, Friday indicated an openness to helping Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, with her millions in campaign debt.

Clinton's campaign debt is thought to be upwards of $10 million -- not including the $11.425 million she loaned her campaign from her personal funds. They are numbers perhaps not as immediately troubling as the 170 delegates by which she trails Obama in their race to the magic 2,025 delegate number to clinch the nomination -- but they are troubling numbers for her nonetheless.


Obama Extends an Olive Branch Toward Clinton
Washington Post - United States

By Alec MacGillis
WOODBURN, Ore. -- Even as Hillary Clinton continued to campaign against him, criticizing his health care plan, Barack Obama took another step this afternoon toward extending an olive branch toward her so that she could "feel good" about the outcome of a Democratic nominating process that his campaign hopes to soon bring to an orderly and amicable close.

Asked by a reporter during a stop at a Mexican restaurant here whether he would be willing to use his huge war chest to help Clinton retire her campaign debts, as some have suggested, Obama demurred.

Obama on Clinton as Veep
FOXNews - USA
by Shushannah Walshe

Beaverton, OR—

Senator Barack Obama praised his rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton, but wouldn’t go so far as to say he would make her one half of the much talked about Democratic “dream-ticket:”

“I have not won this nomination yet - it would be presumptuous of me to suggest that she is going to be my running mate while we are still actively running. . .we do not have this nomination locked up - so we are still competing. “

Obama was responding to a question tossed to him at a small town hall at Vernier Software & Technology, which sells science equipment to schools. He jokingly asked the questioner if he was put up to the question by the press in the back of the room. He praised Clinton calling her “an extraordinary candidate, and an extraordinary public servant.” He also added that she would be on any candidate’s “short list of vice-presidential candidates.”



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