Clinton Suspends Her Bid for the White House; Throws Support Behind Obama

In a 30-minute speech Saturday in front of a packed house of loyal supporters, Sen. Hillary Clinton threw her support behind Sen. Obama, an annoucement which received both cheers and some boos.

In her last rally as a presidential candidate, Mrs. Clinton expressed deep gratitude to the voters. who had cast ballots for her. She suspended her campaign, rather than officially ending it. That’s a technicality that will allow her to raise money to retire her debt and to control the delegates she won. It is not an indication that she has any intention of resuming it. (NY Times)

Mrs. Clinton went on to put into proper historical context what her campaign means to women.

"Although we weren't able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it," the former candidate continued. "And the light is shining through like never before, filling us all with the hope and the sure knowledge that the path will be a little easier next time."

It will be up to the historians to ponder why Clinton waited until the very last day of her campaign to give full voice to the epochal nature of her candidacy. Through the Democratic primary race of 2008, she had played down the significance of being the first woman within reach of the presidency. It's tempting to wonder whether things would have turned out differently if she had embraced the theme earlier -- but there can be little doubt that her last speech of the campaign was also her best. (The Washington Post)

You can read Clinton's speech in its entirety here.

Clinton Suspends Her Bid for the White House; Throws Support Behind Obama

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/06/clinton-suspends-her-bid-for-white.html

Secret Meeting

There are reports this morning that Sen. Clinton and Democratic nominee Barack Obama met privately Thursday night at an unannounced location in Washington D.C. Some reports say the meeting took place at the D.C. home of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Clinton supporter.

“Senator Clinton and Senator Obama met tonight and had a productive discussion about the important work that needs to be done to succeed in November,” their campaigns said in a joint statement released late in the evening.

Secret Meeting

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/06/secret-meeting.html

We DO Have a Nominee

The Clintons are not quitters. They are scrappy. They are persistent. Strategic. And they know that on a dime the political landscape can change given a proper scandal. That's why I think it has been so hard for Hillary to concede the race. To do so means she has to admit defeat. She has to quit.

That's why I think the announcement that Hillary plans to drop out of the Democratic presidential race this weekend and throw her support behind Barack Obama has been so long in coming. Apparently, top Democratic Senators strongly urged her to drop out after her opponent clinched the nomination with an avalanche of superdelegates Tuesday.

Even with the handwriting so clearly on the wall, I'm sure she still had hope. After all, the Clintons are not quitters.

We DO Have a Nominee

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/06/we-do-have-nominee.html

We Have A Nominee (I Think)

from The Washington Post:

With a split decision in the final two primaries and a flurry of superdelegate endorsements, Sen. Barack Obama sealed the Democratic presidential nomination last night after a grueling and history-making campaign against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that will make him the first African American to head a major-party ticket.

"Tonight we mark the end of one historic journey with the beginning of another -- a journey that will bring a new and better day to America," he said, as the emotion of the moment showed on his face. "Because of you, tonight I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States of America."

from USA Today :

Hillary Rodham Clinton, once the Democratic presidential front-runner, ended a hard-fought primary season Tuesday unable to claim victory but unwilling to concede defeat.

"I've never seen in my lifetime somebody more ready to be president and more capable," said Aronchick, who worked on Democrat John Kerry's 2004 campaign. "It's astonishing that we have come to this place where one of our best and brightest" will not be the party's standard-bearer.

from The New York Times:

Senator Barack Obama claimed the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday night, prevailing through an epic battle with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in a primary campaign that inspired millions of voters from every corner of America to demand change in Washington.

A last-minute rush of Democratic superdelegates, as well as split results from the final primaries in Montana and South Dakota, pushed Mr. Obama over the threshold of 2,118 delegates needed to be nominated at the party’s convention in Denver in August. The victory for Mr. Obama, the son of a black Kenyan father and white Kansan mother, broke racial barriers and represented a remarkable rise for a man who just four years ago served in the Illinois State Senate.

Mrs. Clinton paid tribute to Mr. Obama, but she did not leave the race. “This has been a long campaign and I will be making no decisions tonight," Mrs. Clinton told supporters in New York. She said she would be speaking with party officials about her next move.

In a combative speech, she again presented her case that she was the stronger candidate and argued that she had won the popular vote, a notion disputed by the Obama campaign.“I want the 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected,” she said in New York to loud cheers.

And my favorite article, She's Still Here by Maureen Dowd in The New York Times:

He thought a little thing like winning would stop her?

Oh, Bambi.

Whoever said that after denial comes acceptance hadn’t met the Clintons.

If Hillary could not have an acceptance speech, she wasn’t going to have acceptance.

“It’s never going to end,” sighed one Democrat who has been advising Hillary. “We’re just moving to a new phase.”

Barry has been trying to shake off Hillary and pivot for quite a long time now, but she has managed to keep her teeth in his ankle and raise serious doubts about his potency. Getting dragged across the finish line Tuesday night by Democrats who had had enough of the rapacious Clintons, who had decided, if it came to it, that they would rather lose with Obama than win with Hillary, the Illinois senator tried to celebrate at the St. Paul arena where Republicans will anoint John McCain in September.

But even as Obama was trying to savor, Hillary was refusing to sever. Ignoring the attempts of Obama and his surrogates to graciously say how “extraordinary” she was as they showed her the exit, she and a self-pitying Bill continued to pull focus. Outside Baruch College, where she was to speak, her fierce feminist supporters screamed “Denver! Denver! Denver!”

We Have A Nominee (I Think)

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/06/we-have-nominee-i-think.html

The Beginning of the End?

Voters in Montana and South Dakota head to the polls today to end what has to be the longest primary season ever. The consensus on the morning shows by the "experts" was that Sen. Clinton will enjoy the limelight one last time tonight and then will make a graceful exit in the next day or so.

I think we've all learned that you never count Hillary out. She just may surprise us, but the pressure from party leaders is definitely mounting as they press her to end the race so they can unify the party and move forward.

We may actually have a winner by the end of tonight.

The Beginning of the End?

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/06/beginning-of-end.html

Compromise Prompts Anger from Clinton Campaign

No one should be surprised that Clinton isn't going to leave this race quietly or quickly. After yesterday's decision by the DNC Rules Committee to allow delegates from MI and FL to be seated in full but with only a half vote, Clinton supporters were not overjoyed with the results.

The anger mainly stems from the outcome of the MI delegates. The percentage by which the delegates were awarded was a number recommended by the Michigan Democratic Party and not the percentage that was reflective of the election. Opponents say that this decision strips Clinton of four delegate votes and gives them to Obama.

However, I'm not sure it really even matters since four votes isn't enough to significantly change the number of delegates each candidate has, but it has become a source of contention for Clinton supporters. Clinton is reserving the right to take the matter to the credentials committee that will meet right before the convention.

But don't look for Clinton to concede victory to Obama this week, even if he reaches the number of delegates he needs to win the nomination, as is expected after the primaries in Montana and South Dakota on Tuesday. Clinton is still hanging her hat on the votes of super delegates and her belief that she is the more electable candidate against John McCain in the fall. This little matter of counting delegate votes in Michigan just gives her one more reason to keep plugging along.

How do you see it?

Compromise Prompts Anger from Clinton Campaign

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/06/compromise-prompts-anger-from-clinton.html

Deal Reached Over FL and MI Delegates

The committee agreed unanimously with a proposal offered early this morning from Florida DNC member Jon Ausman, under which the Sunshine State will send a full compliment of 185 delegates to Denver, all of whom will have one half of one vote. An initial motion to seat every Florida delegate with a full vote failed, though by a surprisingly narrow 12-15 margin.

Michigan, which initially moved its primary to January 15 in violation of DNC rules, caused significantly more consternation during deliberations today. But after extended negotiations, a motion from Virginia committee member Mame Reiley, a Clinton backer, allocated 69 delegates to Hillary Clinton and 59 delegates to Barack Obama, each delegate with half a vote, passed by a 19-8 margin.

Overall, Clinton earned nineteen net delegates from Florida and five from Michigan, before super delegates from both states will be included. With the additional delegates allowed seats in Denver, the magic number Clinton and Obama strive for will be 2,118, up from the 2,026 delegates needed before today.

(via FL, MI Deals Reached, Real Politics)

Deal Reached Over FL and MI Delegates

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/05/deal-reached-over-fl-and-mi-delegates.html

Clinton Wins Easily; Buys More Time?

• Clinton carries broad spectrum of West Virginia voters
• As expected, biggest margins are at lower end of the socioeconomic ladder
• But it is still tough for Clinton to diminish Obama's aura of inevitability
• Obama's campaign travel plans show he's looking toward November

via CNN.com

Clinton Wins Easily; Buys More Time?

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/05/clinton-wins-easily-buys-more-time.html

Clinton and Obama to Discuss Faith and Issues

On Sunday, April 13, at 8:00 pm (ET), my alma mater is hosting Sens. Clinton and Obama for The Compassion Forum. CNN will broadcast this presidential candidate forum on faith, values and other current issues. NBC anchor Campbell Brown and Newsweek editor and Newsweek.com election anchor Jon Meacham will moderate

Organized and sponsored by Faith in Public Life, the 90-minute forum will address domestic and international poverty, global AIDS, climate change, genocide in Darfur, and human rights and torture. The Compassion Forum will provide the opportunity for candidates to discuss how their faith and moral convictions bear on their positions on these important issues.

"The Compassion Forum will give the candidates a chance to talk straight to voters about what they'll do as president to fulfill God's command that we be our brothers' keepers," said Governor Mike Huckabee, a supporter of the event. "I'm proud that the faith community is taking the lead in asking the candidates to confront the most pressing moral challenges of our times."

The Forum will feature Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on the same stage to talk about these topics as each candidate sits down individually with the moderators. The program will also stream live at www.CNN.com.

"Issues of faith, compassion, and the common good are important throughout Pennsylvania," said U.S. Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. "We have a moral obligation to provide a stable foundation for our next generation, but it also makes perfect economic sense. This year's candidates will be well served discussing these issues in Pennsylvania and The Compassion Forum."

Sen. McCain has declined to participate, although the invitation is still open.

Clinton and Obama to Discuss Faith and Issues

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/04/clinton-and-obama-to-discuss-faith-and.html

Candidates Tap into Their Funny Bone

Everybody loves a good April Fool's joke, right? Well, the candidates sought to relieve some election stress by pulling their own jokes yesterday.

Hillary proved that she can enjoy April Fool's Day as much as the next guy when she played this joke on reporters, even if it was at Obama's expense.

It looks like she wasn't the only one going for laughs. Even John McCain cracked a joke or two as he yakked it up with a late night host.

Candidates Tap into Their Funny Bone

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/04/candidates-tap-into-their-funny-bone.html

Clinton Ignores Calls for her to Drop Out

Even with Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy and Chris Dodd calling on Clinton to drop out this week, and with other strategist examining the numbers for her electability, Clinton vows she's going to continue fighting all the way to the convention. According to experts, while it is possible that she can still win the nomination, it's improbable that she will.

Her resolve to march forward is bad news for those who believe this prolonged fight for the nomination is doing more harm than good for the party. Some pundits believe the only way she can beat Obama is by "taking him out at the knees." With two candidates that are so similar on policy and issues, the only way she could gain the upper hand is by, in effect, playing dirty politics. This is not a new strategy for the Clintons, but usually one reserved for their adversaries, not one of their own.

Could the Democratic party survive such division all the way to August? Would McCain ultimately benefit?

Those are just a few of the questions that are making this election so exciting!

Clinton Ignores Calls for her to Drop Out

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/03/clinton-ignores-calls-for-her-to-drop.html

Sorry, I couldn't help myself

Creators Syndicate

Sorry, I couldn't help myself

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/03/sorry-i-couldnt-help-myself.html

Truth may be stranger than fiction, but sometimes it needs a boost

The buzz on the political front this week has been about an exaggeration of fact Senator Clinton told about a trip she took to Bosnia in 1996. She said in a speech last week that her entourage landed in Bosnia under sniper fire and "ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base." The truth of the matter was that although she had been warned about the possibility of sniper fire, they landed without incident.

"I made a mistake," Senator Clinton said in response to her mis-speak Tuesday. "That happens. It proves I'm human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation."

Unfortunately, this "human" moment has now caused her credibility to be questioned and one pundit went as far to say that Americans will have trouble believing anything she has said or will say in the future.

Actually, I think this exaggeration of fact could have far wider implications and possibly disqualify women from ever serving as President of the United States because, well, women like to stretch the truth.

You give a woman a boring story about going to buy milk and she will turn it into a 10 minute epic complete with a fashion tip, cute baby story and a lesson we can all learn from.

Women all know other women add a little fluff to their stories. It's a universally accepted truth and one that has served mankind well over the centuries. In fact, women are quite good at it. For example, when is the last time you or someone you know...

• Subtracted a few years from your age?
• Added a few hours (or 5) to the length of your labor with your first child?
• Conveniently forgot where you bought the skirt you're wearing because you don't want to admit you bought it second hand?
• Rounded the number of dollars down so your husband doesn't know you spent $150 for a pair of jeans (and they were worth every penny!).
• Fudged the number of pounds you've lost (or haven't lost).
• Thrown in a few more details to make the trip home from the dentist more interesting (and then the car was swallowed up by a pot hole the size of our pool before the rabid dog could jump in the window).
• Rounded a number up to the nearest 1,000 (as in "there must have been at least a 1,000 people in front of me at the bank").
• Said you were under sniper attack in Bosnia

So Hillary, I can empathize with your plight this week. I was also caught in the cross hairs of a sniper attack when my two-year-old carved a 22 foot stick into a bazooka and proceeded to hold his sister hostage in a jail cell that looked strangely like my linen closet. After intense negotiations, the two-year-old put down his weapon after being lured away by the promise of Cheez-Its and a phone call from Elmo. It was a scary afternoon for all of us, so I definitely understand the fear you must have felt when those snipers lobbed grenades and missles at your plane.

We've all been there. We've all been there.

Truth may be stranger than fiction, but sometimes it needs a boost

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/03/truth-may-be-stranger-than-fiction-but.html

Oy Vei

I thought we had pretty much hit rock bottom when we saw this video, but after seeing these two today, I think that opinion may have been a little premature. In fact, it's starting to look pretty good. However, it does beg the question...what happens when people take their passion for a candidate, home camcorder, and unsurpassed creativity and decide to use it to help their candidate win the presidency? Well, I'll let you decide for yourselves, but I'm thinking maybe the candidates would rather try to win it on their own.


This video is a salute to Hillary as she's Making Our Dreams Come True:




But just when you thought McCain was going to be left out, along come the McCain girls to let us know It's Raining McCain.



I'm no expert, but I think that was a little pitchy.

Oy Vei

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/03/oy-vei.html

Clinton Health Care Plan

Clinton, Obama Insurance, New York Times

Clinton Unveils Mandatory Health Care Plan, CNN

Michael Moore says insurance industry would love Clinton’s healthcare plan, TheHill.com

The Dark Side of Hillary Clinton's Health Care Plan, FoxNews.com

They've Got You Covered, Newsweek

Clinton Health Care Plan

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/03/clinton-health-care-plan_17.html

Clinton Health Care Plan

A foundational issue for Hillary Clinton's campaign is to ensure that all Americans have affordable, quality health insurance. Her focus on lowering costs while still providing value and quality is the cornerstone of her American Health Choices Plan.

Clinton's plan covers every American, including the estimated 47 million uninsured and the tens of millions of workers with coverage. Employees who lose or change jobs still would keep their health insurance. She promises this with no increase in health spending or taxes.

For those with health insurance, her plan builds on the current system to give businesses and their employees greater choice of health plans - including keeping the one they have - while lowering cost and improving quality. The new array of choices offered in the Menu would provide benefits at least as good as the typical plan offered to Members of Congress, which includes mental health and dental coverage.

She believes the plan will improve quality and lower costs by removing hidden taxes, stressing prevention and focusing on efficiency and modernization. The plan also ensures that no American is denied coverage, refused renewal, unfairly priced out of the market, or forced to pay excessive insurance company premiums by creating insurance rules that transfer across states and markets.

Of course, Clinton's plan is only as good as the players, so she will work with insurance and drug companies so they can't deny you coverage based on pre-existing conditions or expectations of illness, and drug companies will offer fair prices and accurate information.

Insurance companies will also have to offer and renew coverage to anyone who applies and pays their premium. And like other things that you buy, they will have to compete for your business based on quality and price.

Affordable Coverage
Clinton's plan provides tax credits for working families to help them cover their costs. The tax credits will ensure that working families never have to pay more than a limited percentage of their income for health care.

Clinton would give tax credits to small businesses that provide health care to their workers to help defray their coverage costs. This will make small businesses more competitive and help create good jobs with health benefits that will stay here in the U.S. The Plan will also fix the holes in the safety net to ensure that Medicare and CHIP receive affordable, quality care.

To read Senator Clinton's complete health care plan, you can visit her campaign site.

Clinton Health Care Plan

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/03/clinton-health-care-plan.html

This is going to get nasty...

And confusing...
But, oh, so fun.

Late-breaking numbers out of Texas’ odd two-phase voting system put an asterisk on Hillary Clinton’s Tuesday night victory speech, showing gains made by Barack Obama in the delegate grab race had all but numerically canceled out her big win in Ohio.

Although Clinton got a major boost in morale by winning more raw votes than Obama in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island (she lost to Obama in Vermont), an Associated Press count of the delegates shows Clinton only reduced her opponent’s lead in delegates by 12.

(via)

This is going to get nasty...

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/03/this-is-going-to-get-nasty.html

The Boston Globe Weighs in on Double Standard Question

We asked the question in this post if there was a double standard in how the media was treating Hillary Clinton versus her male counterparts. There was a lot of good discussion that followed in the comments.

Here's The Boston Globe's analysis of the same question.

The Boston Globe Weighs in on Double Standard Question

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/03/boston-globe-weighs-in-on-double.html

Are We Seeing a Double Standard?

I've heard a lot of chatter the last several days about how Hillary Clinton is being unfairly treated just because she's a woman. The one commentator said that if you searched on any of the derogatory names being used to refer to her (ice queen, Lady MacBeth, femi-Nazi, etc.), you'd find hundreds of thousands of hits linked to her name.

So I searched on the three names I listed above plus one other (b*tch) and came up with nearly 250,000 hits directly tied to Hillary's name.

So let me throw out a few questions for fodder:

1. Is Hillary being treated unfairly just because she is a woman? Would we ever characterize a male candidate in similar terms?

2. I think most people would agree Hillary is one of the leading feminists of this era. So, then, is her waning support with women for the presidential nominee an indication that women are moving away or even rejecting feminism?

On last weekend's SNL, they made fun of the media's love affair with Obama as they lobbed him softball questions and swooned at his answers. Clinton? She was passed over completely.

Are we seeing a double-standard? Would the other Clinton be receiving the same type of treatment if he was running again?

Are We Seeing a Double Standard?

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/02/ive-heard-lot-of-chatter-last-several.html

As far as videos go, it's not even a contest

As far as videos go, it's not even a contest

http://politics4moms.blogspot.com/2008/02/what-was-she-thinking.html