Hello Everyone,
Evelyn here,
with an
excerpt from Mike Allen’s Playbook.
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By: Mike Allen
Apr 28, 2008 08:56 AM EST
PARADIGM SHIFT - Karl Rove, in the new Newsweek, suggests Senator Obama notch an accomplishment in the Senate despite the campaign - 'Dear Senator Obama ... President Bush's former senior adviser offers advice for fighting the 'elitist' label':
'1. Your stump speech is sounding old and out of touch. ... 2. When you get into trouble, pick one, simple explanation. And stay with it. ... 3. Your lack of achievements undercuts your core themes. ... 4. You speak of the 'fierce urgency of now' that calls leaders to confront important challenges. Sounds good, but people are asking, what urgent issues have drawn your enormous talents? It's counterintuitive, but spend less time campaigning and more time working the Senate. Pick a big issue and fight hard for it. Win or lose, you'll give your argument substance. ... 5. Stop the attacks. ... 6. To answer growing questions about your inexperience, people need to know, in concrete and credible ways, what they can expect from you as president.'
YOUTUBE OF THE DAY - DNC Chairman Howard Dean, who appeared on five morning shows, announces a new ad hitting McCain on 'a hundred' years and showing a still of him with an arm around President Bush.
RNC
Spokesman Alex Conant says the ad 'deliberately distorts John McCain's statements
in a way that major media and fact check organizations have consistently called
false and misleading.'
Yep. But that doesn't mean it's not effective.
CONVENTIONAL-WISDOM CONVENTION - Results of the GARDEN BRUNCH POLL on who you THINK will be president: Obama, 43 percent; McCain, 37 percent; Clinton, 19 percent. Voters included Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. There was one write-in for David Bass. (No, it WASN'T him. It was Hope.) Mark Penn was there but we're not sure if he voted. Mr. Russert, who knows the answer, respectfully declined.
MAKING NEWS TODAY: Paul Begala and Joe Solmonese, President of the Human Rights Campaign, will hold a media conference call at 10 a.m. to announce a $7 million election plan (targeting 5 million 'pro-equality Americans' in GOTV) and a series of Human Rights Campaign endorsements in battleground states. Begala is going to talk about the state of the electorate, and how it's different from 2004 in terms of wedge-style politics.
The Wash Times illustrates 'McCain backers combat age as issue in campaign' with a front-page photo of the candidate and his Mom, Roberta McCain, 96.
Senator McCain delivers a health-policy speech at Miami Children's Hospital at 10 a.m. Eastern: 'The next president will have to take on the parochial interests that thrive in the health care system. Doctors must do a better job of managing our care and keeping us healthy and out of hospitals and nursing homes. We will need alternatives to doctors' offices and emergency rooms. Hospitals must do a better job of taking care of us when we are there, commit fewer deadly and costly medical errors and generally operate more efficiently. Pharmaceutical companies must worry less about squeezing additional profits from old medicines by copying the last successful drug and insisting on additional patent protections and focus more on new and innovative medicine. Insurance companies should spend more on medical care and less on 'administration.' '
SETTING THE AGENDA- Jake Tapper on ABC's 'Good Morning America,' re Obama and Clinton: 'Tensions between the two are now so uncomfortable, Democratic Party leaders are now openly worrying that Democratic voters will not be able to unify after a nominee is chosen.'
*** Bloomberg News, 'Obama's 'Gigantic' Database May Make Him Party's Power Broker,' by Christopher Stern: 'Even if the Democratic presidential candidate doesn't succeed in his White House bid, [his] data will make Obama a power broker in the party for years to come. For the interest groups or Democratic candidates he chooses to sell it to, it would provide a gold mine of information and access to potential donors.
'Almost 2 million people have entered personal information on Obama pages on social-networking Web sites such as Facebook, MySpace and his campaign's mybarackobama.com, offering home addresses, phone numbers, their views on specific issues and the names of friends. The data have allowed Obama, 46, to raise more than $200 million, fill sports arenas with supporters across the nation and motivate millions more with custom-tailored messages.'
Politico's David Paul Kuhn, 'Obama has difficulty wooing seniors': 'Barack Obama's difficulty attracting older voters now far exceeds Hillary Rodham Clinton's own weaknesses with youth. Repeatedly during the tight race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Obama, who's been defined in part by his popularity among young voters, has seen that strength undercut by his failings with seniors.
'In the Pennsylvania and Ohio primaries, Obama lost older whites by 30 percentage points, while Clinton split white voters under age 30 in both critical contests. Obama's senior problem is even greater among Hispanics. The Illinois senator lost older Latinos by 40 to 60 percentage points in Texas, New Mexico and California.'
Fareed Zakaria in the new Newsweek: 'On March 26, McCain gave a speech on foreign policy in Los Angeles that was billed as his most comprehensive statement on the subject. It contained within it the most radical idea put forward by a major candidate for the presidency in 25 years. Yet almost no one noticed. In his speech McCain proposed that the United States expel Russia from the G8, the group of advanced industrial countries. ...
'What McCain has announced is momentous-that the United States should adopt a policy of active exclusion and hostility toward two major global powers. It would reverse a decades-old bipartisan American policy of integrating these two countries into the global order, a policy that began under Richard Nixon (with Beijing) and continued under Ronald Reagan (with Moscow). It is a policy that would alienate many countries in Europe and Asia who would see it as an attempt by Washington to begin a new cold war.'
WashPost A1 - 'Democrats Registering in Record Numbers': 'The past seven states to hold primaries registered more than 1 million new Democratic voters; Republican numbers mainly ebbed or stagnated. North Carolina and Indiana, which will hold their presidential primaries on May 6, are reporting a swell of new Democrats that triples the surge in registrations before the 2004 primary.'
OBAMA PHONES SUPERDELEGATES - Don't miss this in the Zeleny-Nagourney front-pager, 'Eyes on Blue-Collar Voters, Obama Shifts Style':
'A victory in Indiana, some Obama associates said, might make it more difficult for Mrs. Clinton to go on and send even more superdelegates toward his camp. Which was why Mr. Obama, on a trip through central Indiana this weekend, spent his spare minutes dialing uncommitted superdelegates. Back in Chicago, a more sophisticated operation was methodically checking in with superdelegates who had already pledged to Mr. Obama - just to make certain there had not been any slippage.' (Hat tip: Avi Zenliman)
WONK DIRT! - The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza has a 'Talk of the Town' on 'Bill vs. Barack,' saying that Clinton has been 'dismissive' of Obama in private conversations and quoting a Clinton adviser as saying: 'I think this campaign has enraged him. ... He doesn't like Obama.'
But it's not for the reason you think. Ryan explains: 'The focus on Clintonian error has obscured a serious debate that Obama and the former President tried to have. Obama has been arguing that the country's economic troubles are as much Clinton's fault as Bush's-he blames Clinton-era deregulation of the telecommunications and banking industries-and he implicitly accuses Bill Clinton of surrendering to special interests. ... That is what offended Bill Clinton. ... In the closing days of the [Pennsylvania] campaign, Obama gave at least three speeches criticizing the former President, who, ever vigilant of his legacy, defended himself at every stop. Few paid attention; Barack and Bill were like two boxers trying to have a fight but both getting pelted by a mysterious third force-the saturation gaffe coverage.'
*** And, by the way, if you didn't read the article about elevators, everyone's still talking about it.
BOOKERS/PRODUCERS/BLOGGERS - We missed this in the Sunday N.Y. Times, but this is a conversation-driver - 'McCain Frequently Used Wife's Jet for Little Cost,' by Barry Meier and Margot Williams: 'Given Senator John McCain's signature stance on campaign finance reform, it was not surprising that he backed legislation last year requiring presidential candidates to pay the actual cost of flying on corporate jets. ... But over a seven-month period beginning last summer, Mr. McCain's cash-short campaign gave itself an advantage by using a corporate jet owned by a company headed by his wife, Cindy McCain, according to public records. For five of those months, the plane was used almost exclusively for campaign-related purposes, those records show.
'Mr. McCain's campaign paid a total of $241,149 for the use of that plane from last August through February, records show. That amount is approximately the cost of chartering a similar jet for a month or two, according to industry estimates. The senator was able to fly so inexpensively because the law specifically exempts aircraft owned by a candidate or his family or by a privately held company they control.'
COMMUNICATORS ALERT - WSJ, 'New Rival for 'Morning Edition,' ': 'On Monday, a new morning show called 'The Takeaway' launches on public radio stations in New York, Boston, Baltimore and several other, smaller cities. The show has a forward-looking twist that allows listeners to interact with it in real time via the Internet. It is spearheaded by public-radio giants WNYC in New York and Minneapolis-based producer and syndicator Public Radio International Inc., with editorial input from the British Broadcasting Corp.'s World Service; The New York Times, of New York Times Co., and WGBH, a public radio station in Boston.'
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Evelyn out