There is an odd dichotomy emerging in the media coverage of the Democratic presidential race emerging this morning. On one hand, the media is seeing former Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew's defection to Barack Obama's camp as a sign that superdelegates are beginning to move towards his candidacy, and give the move extensive coverage. On the other, there are a number of items of good news for Hillary Clinton polls showing her in a dead heat in Indiana and one showing her competitive in North Carolina, which was expected to be an Obama stronghold. In addition, she picked up the endorsement of the Indianapolis Star, and a group of swing state polls show her far stronger in the general election in key states than Obama.
Andrew Switches To Obama The New York Times reports Andrew, "a superdelegate who was the Democratic National Committee chairman under President Bill Clinton," switched his allegiance to Sen. Obama yesterday, saying the move was "a very heartfelt and very personal decision for me." The decision has supplanted the Wright controversy as the top story in the Democratic primary. ABC World News reports Andrew said Obama "is able to rise above the politics of old, rise above the political theater that I, myself was a practitioner of, as well." The AP adds Clinton "was jolted Thursday by the defection of one of her longtime superdelegate supporters. ... 'A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue' a long, self-destructive Democratic campaign, Joe Andrew added in a letter designed to have an impact on the turbulent race nationally as well as in his home state of Indiana, site of a primary next week." The Andrew endorsement was also covered heavily on the CBS Evening News and the NBC Nightly News , both of which focused on the movement of superdelegates to Obama.
The Washington Times says the Democratic establishment "is steadily moving toward ensuring" Obama's nomination, as party leaders such as Andrew are "flocking to Mr. Obama's side, urging others to do the same and close the delegate gap so Democrats can unify in time for the fall." The Hill reports Obama's "sharp denunciation of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright this week has superdelegates moving in his direction," with Andrew "perhaps the biggest jewel of the week for Obama." The Chicago Tribune reports, "The decision by the longtime loyalist of the Clintons, and a convention superdelegate, to abandon Clinton's campaign makes Andrew a leading voice among top Democrats who have expressed fears that the longer the nominating process continues, the more divisive it will become."
The Indianapolis Star reports that the "decision resonated through the Democratic presidential race. ... 'This was a real stunner, and it's gotten an enormous amount of attention,' Larry Sabato, a national political analyst at the University of Virginia, said of Andrew's announcement. 'It's not that the general population has a clue who Joe Andrew is, it's just that the activists do - (and) the super activists are the superdelegates. For that reason, his decision has really sent shockwaves through the Clinton campaign.'"
Clinton Much Stronger Than Obama In Three Key States A new series of Quinnipiac polls released yesterday give credence to Sen. Clinton's argument that she is the most electable Democrat. The polls show Clinton easily besting Sen. John McCain in three key swing states Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. In contrast, Obama trails in two of the three. In Florida, Clinton leads McCain 49%-41%, while McCain leads Obama 44%-43%. In Ohio, Clinton tops McCain 48%-38%, while McCain leads Obama 43%-42%. In Pennsylvania, Clinton tops McCain 51%-37%, while Obama leads McCain 47%-38%. Quinnipiac surveyed 1411 likely voters in Florida, 1127 likely voters in Ohio, and 1494 likely voters in Pennsylvania from April 23-29.
Indianapolis Star Endorses Clinton The Indianapolis Star on Friday endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton, saying that Sen. Barack Obama "offers an attractive vision for the way things could be," but Clinton "offers a clear-eyed view of the way things are." The Star adds, "Her depth of knowledge is remarkable. As impressive as Obama appears, he is still in his first term in the U.S. Senate, and only four years ago was serving as an Illinois state senator. His inexperience in high office is a liability."
Clinton, Obama Tied In Indiana A Zogby International poll of likely Democratic voters in Indiana shows Clinton and Obama tied at 42% apiece.
The AP reports this morning that a Mason-Dixon poll of likely North Carolina Democratic primary voters shows 49% would vote for Barack Obama and 42% would vote for Hillary Clinton. The AP adds Obama "leads Clinton 63-26 among voters under age 35, while Clinton has a 47-45 edge among voters over 50. He has the support of 87 percent of black voters, while Clinton leads among whites with 62 percent."
In contrast, a Zogby International poll of 668 likely Democratic primary voters taken April 30-May 1 shows Obama leading Clinton 50%-34% in North Carolina.
Easley Says Clinton Can Win North Carolina North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley (D), who has endorsed Clinton, said on CNN's The Situation Room, "I have got a lot of respect for Barack Obama, the campaign he's run. ... But I just felt like, at this time in our nation's history, we need somebody who's ready to go right away with a good economic policy." Asked if Clinton can win North Carolina next week, Easley said, "Yes, she can. I don't know if we're going to get there. ... I don't have a machine to put together out there, like some other states do."
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The New York Times reports this morning that both Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton continued to defend their proposal to suspend the federal 18.5-cent-a-gallon gas tax this summer, but that didn't slow the barrage of criticism of the plan. The DC-insider publication The Hill reports this morning that House Democrats "made plain" yesterday that that proposal was "DOA" dead on arrival with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying, "There's no reason to believe that any moratorium on the gas tax would be passed on to the consumer."
The Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg News, and the Boston Globe all run pieces today citing experts damning the proposal, while the New York Daily News reports NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the proposal "dumb." In his Washington Post column today, Eugene Robinson slams Clinton's and McCain's support for suspending gas tax as "the nonsense du jour."
In a front-page story, USA Today reports that Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton "are increasingly funding their presidential campaigns through donations of $200 or less, a USA TODAY analysis shows, in a break from previous contests dominated by wealthier contributors. More than half of the $194 million that Clinton and Obama collected from January through March...came from small donations, according to the analysis of data compiled by the non-partisan Campaign Finance Institute. That's up from about 15% of the $43.5 million collected by both Democrats during the same period last year."
USA Today reports this morning that after "courting traditionally Democratic voters," John McCain "will tend to his conservative roots for a new round of voter outreach." McCain has "scheduled speeches on judges and gun rights - two issues that have fueled the success of conservative candidates going back to Ronald Reagan." However, the Washington Times says, "Faced with a crumbling Republican Party image," McCain is "gambling on a general-election strategy that relies on winning over conservative Democrats and independents, breaking with President Bush's 2000 and 2004 game plan of focusing on the party's core voters."
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President Bush's call on Congress to pass $770 million in overseas food aid received extensive media coverage, but only mixed reviews. The Washington Post notes Bush's proposal "came under immediate criticism from some congressional Democrats and outside experts, who said additional money would do little to alleviate the current crisis if it is not available until the 2009 budget year, which starts in October." Along those lines, the New York Times reports Sen. Richard J. Durbin "welcomed the president's proposal 'as a sign of the magnitude of this problem," but "a fellow Democrat, Senator Robert P. Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania, said in a telephone interview that the administration needed to act with 'a real sense of urgency' and endorse a swifter increase."
On its front page, the Wall Street Journal says "Bush's proposal immediately became tangled in US farm-subsidy politics." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "pledged to work quickly on speeding aid overseas," but she also "urged the president to pass the farm bill, of which he has been critical." Also in a front-page story, however, USA Today says the plan "is winning praise from Congress and charities," who nonetheless "say more needs to be done."
Many media outlets combine their stories on Bush's remarks on world hunger with coverage of a congressional hearing on rising domestic food prices with TV reports linking both issues. In its lead story, ABC World News noted, "Here in this country, the grocery bill is a struggle for just about everyone. And in some parts of the world, feeding your family is nearly impossible." The CBS Evening News also led with the story, "Food prices are rising at an annual rate of more than five percent. Worldwide, it's a lot worse." In a follow-up report, the CBS Evening News added, "America's food problems pale in comparison to other parts of the world. While US prices are rising, we still have plenty of food."
Coverage on NBC Nightly News also led the broadcast, but NBC's story did not mention the President's announcement, focusing instead on the Hill hearing. NBC reported that as "gas and food prices...continue to escalate, they're really acting like a tax on the consumer. A family that spends $50 extra a week on food and energy has $50 less to spend on anything else. That's what they were talking about in Washington today."
The Washington Times reports on its front page that "agricultural experts testified on Capitol Hill yesterday that high food prices are here to stay, as robust demand for food worldwide collides with record fuel costs to put unprecedented pressure on food prices." The Los Angeles Times reports on its front page that "Congress suddenly faces renewed pressure to cut subsidies to the wealthiest farmers and incentives for ethanol production."
The President made the case for easing trade barriers and pressured European countries to accept genetically-modified crops. The New York Times reports Bush "called on other countries to ease trade barriers restricting agricultural imports or exports and to lift bans on genetically modified foods," and "urged Congress to give the government greater flexibility in dispersing assistance." The Financial Times reports Bush "stepped up pressure on the European Union and other governments to lift restrictions on genetically modified crops to help ease the crisis in global food supplies."
Democratic critics of the war in Iraq used the fifth anniversary of President Bush's "mission accomplished" to lambaste the President for the course of the war. The Washington Times reports, "Capitol Hill Democrats piled on criticism of the Iraq war yesterday to mark the five-year anniversary of President Bush's celebratory war speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln beneath a 'mission accomplished' banner." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "said the president's speech was 'perhaps the greatest act of hubris that our nation has ever seen in wartime.'"
Coverage of the anniversary was muted, consisting mainly of mentions of the "Mission Accomplished" speech in larger Iraq pieces. ABC World News devoted less than a minute to it, while NBC Nightly News ran a 20-second report on the "now famous banner" and the CBS Evening News merely mentioned it as part of a report on the President's food aid announcement.
In the Washington Post's Washington Sketch column, Dana Milbank says after "half a trillion dollars and the deaths of 4,000 troops and tens of thousands of Iraqis, the president's spin doctors have waved the white flag of surrender over the USS Abraham Lincoln episode." In his own Washington Post column, Al Kamen says White House spokeswoman Dana Perino "gave the line the White House apparently has settled on after some false starts, including a lame effort to deny any involvement with the sign, which had been strategically placed for a perfect camera angle behind President Bush as he spoke." Perino said, "President Bush is well aware that the banner should have been much more specific, and said mission accomplished for these sailors who are on this ship on their mission."
McCain Revises View Of Banner. The Politico reports John McCain "said today that the decision five years ago today to hang the famous 'Mission Accomplished' banner was a mistake," but the DNC "notes that wasn't exactly what he said the above June, 2003 interview. Reminded by Fox's Neil Cavuto that many didn't think the conflict was over, McCain retorted: 'Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier?'"
Strike Over Iraq? Meanwhile, the New York Times reports, "Thousands of dockworkers at West Coast ports stayed off the job on Thursday in what their union said was a call for an end to the war in Iraq." The International Longshore and Warehouse Union "said more than 25,000 members in 29 ports stayed off the job." The Los Angeles Times, meanwhile, says the union said "the work stoppage was in protest of the war in Iraq, but port operators and shippers call it an attempt to influence contract negotiations."
The AP reports, "Democrats running Congress struggled Thursday to write an Iraq war funding bill that can both pass through their fractious ranks and also be signed by President Bush." Democrats in the House and Senate "disagree over how much to add to Bush's $108 billion war request in the face of a White House veto threat."
The Hill reports Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid "prepared to snub Capitol Hill's most powerful money men, suggesting Thursday that they could hold votes on a massive wartime spending bill without letting appropriators touch the legislation first." However, "such a move risks creating a big battle over Iraq in an election year."
Meanwhile, The Hill reports the Senate Armed Services Committee "spoke with one voice Thursday and sent 'a loud message to Iraq,' according to Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), that the U.S. is no longer willing to pick up the bill when it comes to costly infrastructure projects." The panel "unanimously approved a provision that prohibits the Pentagon from paying for infrastructure projects in Iraq that cost more than $2 million." The Washington Post says that "under the plan, Iraq also would have to pay to train and equip its security forces and provide the salaries of Sunni-dominated 'Sons of Iraq' local security groups."
In a letter to the editor of the Washington Post, GOP Sen. Jon Kyl takes issue with columnist Dana Milbank's recent assertion "that the 'CIA was correct' that there were no links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein." The "historical record," the senator argues, "tells a different story. In 2002, then-CIA Director George Tenet wrote in a letter to Bob Graham (D-Fla.), then chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, that 'our understanding of the relationship between Iraq and al-Qa'ida is evolving' and 'we have solid reporting of senior level contacts between Iraq and al-Qa'ida going back a decade.'"
The CBS Evening News reported, "Score one for the United States in the war on terror. One of al Qaeda's top operatives in Africa Aden Hashi Ayro, was killed overnight when American missiles wiped out his compound in Somalia. Several other terror suspects were also killed." In a follow-up report, the CBS Evening News said al Qaeda "is looking to become a dominant force in Africa, and the US military is doing everything it can to prevent that."
The Wall Street Journal reports, "If confirmed," Ayro's death "would be a significant tactical victory" and "would also bolster Washington's efforts to rein in Islamist extremism in East Africa." Similarly, the Financial Times says the strike "marks Washington's greatest success since it began 'decapitation' air strikes in Somalia." McClatchy reports says his death "potentially" could lead to the "slowing" of "an Islamist insurgency that's been raging for more than a year in Somalia."
Some media coverage of the strike, however, tempered the Administration's claim of success by what the New York Times sees as "an uphill battle to score lasting blows...against" al Qaeda "around the world." The Christian Science Monitor similarly reports "news of...Ayro's death comes on the heels of a US global survey that concluded al Qaeda has been rebuilding its networks from havens in Pakistan, where the number of attacks more than doubled in 2007."
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Jay Leno: "Government figures released by President Bush today shows we are not in a recession. Yeah. Unless, of course, you have to buy gas or food or some other luxury item."
Jay Leno: "Well, at his press conference this week, President Bush blasted Congress for not allowing oil exploration in the Alaskan Wildlife Reserve. Democrats said it wouldn't do any good because it wouldn't produce oil for ten years. You know, same thing they said ten years ago."
David Letterman: Top Ten Surprising Facts About Barack Obama (The list was read by Sen. Obama).
"10. My first act as President will be to stop the fighting between Lauren and Heidi on 'The Hills.'
9. In the Illinois primary, I accidentally voted for Kucinich.
8. When I tell my kids to clean their room, I finish with, 'I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message.'
7. Throughout high school, I was consistently voted 'Barackiest.'
6. Earlier today I bowled a 39.
5. I have canceled all my appearances the day the 'Sex and The City' movie opens.
4. It's the birth place of Fred Astaire. (Sorry, that's a surprising fun fact about Omaha.)
3. We are tirelessly working to get the endorsement of Kentucky Derby favorite Colonel John.
2. This has nothing to do with the Top Ten, but what the heck is up with Paula Abdul?
1. I have not slept since October."
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