The New York Times reports this morning that the Democratic contest "took on the feel of the early voting states" yesterday "back when the candidates' buses would crisscross paths in a single state" as both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama campaigned in eastern Pennsylvania. One thing was new, however both candidates adopted far more populist tones than in recent months. USA Today reports that both Democrats "hit populist notes as they nearly crossed paths campaigning for votes in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary, the next contest in their marathon battle for the nomination."
The Chicago Tribune reports Obama "is making clear the politics of hope has an enemies list. Oil companies, predatory lenders, highly paid corporate CEOs and health insurance companies all rank high on it. In between drop-ins at bowling alleys, sports bars and other blue-collar hangouts, Obama is stoking an us-against-them populism that makes common purpose with the grievances of working-class families feeling pinched by the hard economic time." Bloomberg News adds that Obama "called Countrywide Financial Corp., the biggest U.S. mortgage company, an example of what's wrong in today's economy and a political culture dominated by corporate lobbyists."
Similarly, the Wall Street Journal reports that Clinton, in Harrisburg yesterday, "ratcheted up her plan for a middle-class tax cut Monday, calling for $100 billion in tax relief. Speaking at the Capitol Diner here, Sen. Clinton said that a typical family making $50,000 would receive under her plan a tax cut of up to $1,000 and a $3,500 tax credit to help pay for college." The Philadelphia Inquirer adds that Clinton "returned to Pennsylvania yesterday, talking about the economy and concerns of middle-class voters at an afternoon roundtable outside Harrisburg and an evening rally in Bucks County." At one event, Clinton said, "We're going to take the tax code and shake it up so it starts giving benefits to middle-class taxpayers and not to the wealthy and well-to-do."
Obama "Vastly Outspending" Clinton In PA In a posting on its "Political Intelligence" blog, the Boston Globe reports Barack Obama is "vastly outspending" Hillary Clinton so far in Pennsylvania on ads. The Globe says, "By some counts, he is buying five times more air time than Clinton. ... The $2 million in ad buys could help partly explain why Obama, who is in the middle of a bus tour across the Keystone State, is closing the gap in the polls to the low double digits."
ABC World News reported that in a Lancaster, Pennsylvania town hall meeting, Sen. Barack Obama "ignored Clinton, but blasted McCain's Iraq strategy." Sen. Barack Obama was shown saying, "We can't afford to stay in Iraq like John McCain said, for another 100 years." ABC added, "The suggestion being that McCain wants to keep the surge going another century, which is not exactly what McCain said. Pressed in a news conference, Obama denied he's distorting McCain's meaning."
According to the Washington Times, Obama "said it is 'entirely fair' to say on the campaign trail that Mr. McCain would continue the war for 100 years because the Republican has not clearly defined success in Iraq and has given no criteria for troop withdrawal. 'For him to argue, which he has repeatedly, that any suggestion that we withdraw troops is surrendering, that implies that we will be there as long as he thinks it's necessary for us to be there,' Mr. Obama said."
Fox News' Special Report noted that the "non-partisan group" factcheck.org "says Obama's claim that McCain wants 100 years in Iraq is a serious distortion to the point of rank falsehood. Challenged by reporters today, Obama refused to back down." McCain's campaign claims Obama "has been knowingly twisting McCain's words for as much as three months."
McCain Says Obama Needs A Lesson In Military History In a posting on its "The Trail" politics blog, the Washington Post reports that McCain, speaking in Jackson, Mississippi, "derided" Obama for "having no experience with the history of warfare, saying the lack of knowledge explains Obama's attacks on McCain's Iraq positions." The Post adds, "On the plane flying back to Washington, McCain told reporters that Obama's continued criticism on that issue reflected a 'fundamental misunderstanding of history' and a basic lack of knowledge about the military."
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ABC World News opened its broadcast with the claim that "every day seems to bring news discouraging" to Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign. According to ABC, "Today, for example, another powerful Democrat has called for a quick end to the race. An influential superdelegate has declared for Obama. The latest Gallup poll gives Obama an eight-point national lead, and there are indications the Clinton campaign has real money problems. Overall, problems and more problems." Sen. Clinton "says she has no plans to quit the race, but her campaign may be running out of time and money." NBC Nightly News began its broadcast: "It is not easy being Hillary Clinton these days. She wakes up every day now to questions about getting out and she goes on. It is getting slightly easier to be Barack Obama these days, fueled by money and now polls showing him leading nationally."
More Of The Public Now Considers Clinton Untrustworthy The Wall Street Journal reports Clinton "is losing ground in her effort to convince voters that she is trustworthy. The debate over her record has left Sen. Clinton confronting her lowest approval rating since April 2006, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll1 released last week. According to the survey, 29% of the approximately 1,000 respondents said they had a very negative opinion of Sen. Clinton compared with 15% for Sen. Barack Obama and 12% for Sen. John McCain." A Pew Research survey released last week "shows 29% of Democratic voters describe Sen. Clinton as 'phony,' compared with 14% for Sen. Obama."
The AP, in a piece that appears in USA Today, reports from Meridian, Mississippi, that Sen. John McCain "embarked on a carefully crafted tour to introduce himself to a wider election audience" yesterday "but quickly veered off script to express surprise at the Iraqi government's crackdown on Shiite militias. He said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had acted without consultations with the United States, adding, 'I was surprised because I didn't think he'd do it yet.'" The Washington Post reports McCain's speech yesterday "was largely a condensed version of his book 'Faith of My Fathers,' a biography that traces his upbringing and the Navy careers of his grandfather, his father and himself." The Post adds, "Aides hope the week-long trip will cement in the public's mind McCain's personal history and his military service. The tour will end Saturday with a rally in Arizona on the courthouse steps where then-Sen. Barry Goldwater announced his presidential bid in 1964."
The Los Angeles Times reports McCain's tour, "meant to capture voter attention while his two Democratic rivals are still battling it out for the nomination, may...soften conservative discomfort with the maverick senator, who has strayed from Republican orthodoxy on issues such as immigration and campaign reform." Today, McCain "will go to the Washington, DC, suburbs, where he went to high school; on Wednesday, he will return to Annapolis, where he finished fifth from the bottom of his class at the academy. Later in the week the campaign will head to Florida, where McCain trained as a Navy pilot, and Arizona, where he got his start in politics."
ABC World News and NBC Nightly News both briefly mentioned McCain's tour, given it far less coverage than the Democrats received.
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Embattled HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced his resignation yesterday. NBC Nightly News noted that his resignation comes "amid an FBI investigation in a lawsuit over favoritism in awarding contracts," and "several Democratic lawmakers have called for Secretary Jackson's resignation in recent weeks." The New York Times notes Jackson maintained he "had worked hard to keep families in their homes, to revitalize public housing and to preserve affordable housing." The Wall Street Journal adds that his resignation "removes a major point of friction between the White House and congressional Democrats, who were frustrated by the secretary's refusal to answer their questions about allegations that he tried to steer contracts or land to friends in Philadelphia, New Orleans and the Virgin Islands."
The Washington Post reports that according to "two government sources who work on housing issues," on March 24, Jackson "was called to the White House, where top aides discussed his ability to continue to lead the agency." Jackson met with President Bush on Saturday "to discuss his plans to resign, according to White House spokesman Tony Fratto."
The Washington Times goes into some detail regarding the various federal investigations of Jackson, while USA Today notes "other Bush Cabinet members...have left office under political clouds. But Jackson is the highest-ranking Bush official to depart in this manner." McClatchy calls Jackson "a close Bush ally." The New York Times, in an editorial, says that that fact that Jackson "was permitted to remain in office so long" was "a sad comment on the Bush administration's low regard for HUD's mission." The AP reports Sen. Hillary Clinton "said that while Jackson's resignation is 'appropriate, it does nothing to address the Bush administration's wait-and-don't-see posture to our nation's housing crisis.'" The Hill runs a similar story focusing on Clinton's reaction.
Coverage of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's speech calling for an overhaul of the nation's financial system portrays his plan as bold and ambitious. Media analyses, however, caution that enactment of the proposals would require congressional approval and is therefore far from a done deal. Moreover, a number of reports echo Democratic criticisms of the plan namely that the proposed overhaul would do little to alleviate the current financial crisis. The Financial Times reports Paulson "conceded...it could take 'many years' to overhaul US financial regulation as congressional critics took aim at his new plan to revamp a system dating back to the Great Depression." In fact, the Secretary "added that the administration's recommendations 'should not and will not be implemented until after the present market difficulties are past.'" And the Washington Post notes on its front page that White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, "when asked whether Bush wants the entire package done before he leaves office in January," said, "I think we'll have to see. ... It's a big attempt." The Los Angeles Times adds that Perino "made clear that the White House was treating the proposal as Paulson's, not Bush's."
According to USA Today, even Democrats who "welcomed" Paulson's plan "said they don't see it passing in an election year." The Los Angeles Times quotes Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, who called the plan a "constructive step forward," but "said the Federal Reserve needs even more authority." Sen. Charles Schumer charged the plan "does not consolidate redundant agencies enough and a single regulator may be a better approach," and "questioned Paulson's statement that the regulatory framework is not to fault for the current economic unrest." The Christian Science Monitor also reports "most observers doubt Congress will take up the most sweeping provisions this year," and the New York Times notes on its front page that "senior lawmakers and lobbyists from industries opposed to the plan predicted that most of it would be dead on arrival." In an another story, titled "Paulson's Plan Too Long-Term For Some In Congress," the Christian Science Monitor says that "for many lawmakers...the priority is quick, decisive action to show voters they grasp the magnitude of the crisis threatening the No. 1 investment of many families: their homes." The AP reports Democrats in Congress "said the administration should be focusing its efforts on easing the country's current woes."
Paulson's announcement was covered in all three network newscasts last night. NBC Nightly News aired an "exclusive" interview with Secretary Paulson. Paulson was shown saying, "I don't think this particular idea would be sufficient to undo this bubble we had in the mortgage area, but I do believe it would have gone a long way toward preventing some of these practices which are reprehensible." In addition to Congress, the Wall Street Journal, on its front page, reports that "groups ranging from small banks to state attorneys general criticized" the plan, signaling "a long fight ahead."
McClatchy reports Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama "called Paulson's plan inadequate and criticized the Bush administration for allowing the mortgage crisis to occur." Sen. John McCain said, "This long overdue regulatory reform is necessary to regain the trust of the American investor," adding the current crisis is "a classic case of special interests preserving outdated agencies at the expense of the public good." The AP quotes Clinton saying of Paulson's plan, "No amount of rearranging the deck chairs can hide the fact that our housing and credit markets are in crisis, and they're sinking deeper every day. ... Every day we fail to take aggressive action is a day lost." The Washington Times and Los Angeles Times also notes the candidates' responses.
Fed Would Lose Some Power McClatchy reports Paulson's proposals "would broadly expand the powers of the Federal Reserve, merge the regulation of stock and commodities markets, fold savings and loan institutions under the umbrella of bank regulation and even allow insurance companies to opt out of state regulation in favor of a newly created federal insurance regulator." The Wall Street Journal says that under the plan, "the Federal Reserve's 12 regional banks, already shrinking, face new uncertainty about their future." Paulson's "blueprint...suggests no major changes for the Fed in the near term. But in the intermediate term, either the central bank or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which jointly oversee state-chartered banks, might have to relinquish its share of that responsibility to the other."
In a story titled "Under The Treasury's Plan, Fed Would Lose A Key Power," the Washington Post reports Paulson "is trying to turn the complicated muddle that is the US banking regulatory system into something more coherent. To that end, he would replace a sprawling set of regulators aiming to ensure the soundness of the nation's financial institutions...with a single Prudential Financial Regulatory Agency." The Post adds that the Fed "has indicated neither explicit support nor opposition to the Treasury plan. But leaders of the central bank have in the recent past vigorously opposed stripping their institution of its role supervising bank holding companies."
The negotiated ceasefire that ended the Iraqi military campaign's against Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in Basra is being portrayed as un unexpected victory for Sadr and a humiliating defeat for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The Financial Times is typical, reporting that Maliki's "assault on the militia was meant to be a decisive test of the US-trained Iraqi army, and to revive his flagging leadership." But "instead the protracted fighting has opened a new fissure within Iraq's Shia community." This morning the New York Times also notes that Maliki "had vowed that he would see the Basra campaign through to a military victory, and the negotiated outcome was seen as a serious blow to his leadership." The AP, in an article appearing in USA Today, describes Maliki as "politically battered and humbled within his own Shiite power base." Reporting on Sadr, another AP item says he has emerged "as a self-styled peacemaker and patriot."
The Washington Post notes Maj. Gen. Abdul Aziz Mohammad, chief of military operations, "acknowledged that Iraq's security forces had miscalculated and were unprepared for the reaction they encountered last week to their offensive in Basra." He acknowledged that his security forces "had planned to fight criminal gangs, assassins and murderers who had taken control of the city -- not the well-armed fighters of Mahdi Army." Last night, Fox News' Special Report conceded Maliki "burned political capital by leading a fight in Basra in which he faced greater resistance than planned. ... On the face of it, Sadr scored a public relations coup this weekend." However, according to Fox, "Sadr's actions...may well have weakened him within his own organization. Hard-line factions...will not take kindly to being...suddenly muzzled again." The Christian Science Monitor says the fighting "has also firmly wedged the US in an intra-Shiite struggle that has been bubbling for some time and will probably only intensify."
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Jay Leno: "The big movie at the box office this week, '21.' It was all about Barack Obama's bowling score."
Jay Leno: "Did you see that in the news? ... Oh, this is great. You know, when you campaign, you've got to do all this stuff. Well, they showed Barack Obama bowling, and this is true," his "score was...37. Out of a possible 300, he bowled 37. Of course, being a Democrat, he automatically demanded a recount, so they had to go back."
Jay Leno: "John McCain having trouble raising money. You know, a lot of people think he's raising money the old guy way. You know, with the metal detector at the beach. Yeah, I think that's the big problem, that's probably what it is."
Jay Leno: "New York Governor David Paterson, who, in his first two weeks in office has admitted to having a number of extramarital affairs and doing drugs, he now says he'll no longer talk about his personal life. Phew! Thank God he made that decision before he said anything embarrassing."
Jay Leno: "Yesterday, President Bush threw out the first pitch to open the Washington Nationals' new baseball park. It was high and to the right, just like to his tax cuts for the rich people."
David Letterman: "Yesterday down in Washington DC, President Bush threw out the first pitch at the Nationals game. ... He...left in the seventh inning and I thought, 'Well, great, at least he has an exit strategy for that!'"
David Letterman: "You folks been following the presidential race. You know, Hillary now is behind in states, behind in delegates," behind "in the popular vote, and also...behind in the polls. And today, she said to Obama, 'Are you ready to throw in the towel?'"
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