Election 2008: January 2008 Archives

A full 90 minutes before tonight's debate between Sens. HIllary Clinton and Barack Obama, the California Republican Party let us know they didn't like what they would have to say.

CRP Chairman Ron Nehring said he doesn't like their campaigns or what he thinks they would do to the couhtry.

"The Democratic candidates for President showed this week how out of touch they are. It's clear that both Senators Clinton and Obama have much explaining to do...."

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, chairman of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, has received $10,500 from indicted Chicago entrepreneur Antoin Rezko and his relatives or affiliates in previous council and mayoral campaigns, the Daily News has learned. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.

The news comes even as Clinton has criticized her chief rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for taking contributions from Rezko in an increasingly contentious campaign as it heads into tonight's debate in Los Angeles.

Villaraigosa's Deputy Mayor Sean Clegg said today that the contributions are unrelated to the issues Clinton has raised concerning Rezko and Obama.

"It is no coincidence that this attack on the mayo

California is the biggest prize on the delegate map during next Tuesday's primaries and caucuses, when voters in more than 20 states will head to the polls. Sacramento Bee.

But the process by which Democrats and Republicans collect delegates here is anything but simple.

For starters, the Democrats and Republicans have different systems of picking delegates.

For Republicans, there are 170 delegates at stake next Tuesday.

Sen. John McCain solidified his front-runner status for the Republican nomination Wednesday, sparring with an aggressive Mitt Romney in a feisty debate at the Reagan Library and securing key bicoastal endorsements from Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

In a debate dominated by attacks and counterattacks between McCain and chief rival Romney, McCain appeared to take the upper hand.

The Arizona senator launched an offensive against Romney's economic record as governor of Massachusetts, while Romney said McCain was out of the conservative mainstream.

The debate was classic.

Two men arguing a different side of the same issue. Both throwing verbal blows and insults at the other's character. Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

But the heated spat was not between Sen. John McCain and Gov. Mitt Romney - the two candidates who dominated Wednesday's GOP debate at the Reagan Library. It was an exchange between a reporter and a political strategist in the media spin room.

Using the ties of the Kennedy family to Latinos, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign announced Wednesday that Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., will be coming to Los Angeles this week to help build support.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has locked up some of the major Latino officials in the state and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa serves as one of her national co-chairs.

But, with Kennedy announcing his support of Obama this week, the campaign said it has arranged a trip for him this week -- at a site to be determined -- to try to win over Latino voters before next Tuesday's primary election.

The Kennedy family has been popular in the Latino community dating back to the early 1960s when then-Sen. Robert Kennedy backed the United Farm Workers in their organizing efforts.

With the Democrats gearing up for the Thursday debate, Mayors for Hillary hit the tarmac today in a modern day version of a whistle-stop tour.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom are spending Wednesday in the air to promote the economic stimulus package proposed by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

A statement from the campaign says: "The California Mayors will build on the momentum of this week’s LA Times poll and continue to campaign throughout the Golden State to ensure Senator Clinton wins the February 5th California primary."

Clinton's efforts comes as Sen. Barack Obama is stepping up his television buy in the state, including commercials directed at the large Latino market.

The mayors will begin in Oakland, hop over to Sacramento, and wind up in Los Angeles.

Clinton

The countdown to Feb. 5 has begun and the presidential campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton began their efforts on Tuesday to draw attention to their candidacies.
While the political world was still buzzing over the Obama endorsements by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Clinton countered with her own powerhouse of Los Angeles politics _ Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles.
Waters, a major voice in the South Los Angeles area, said she was endorsing Clinton because of her experience on issues ranging from health care and education to opposition to the Iraq war.
And, she thinks Clinton will hold on to win California.
“I think that California is Hillary Clinton territory,” Waters said. “She has a history of providing strong leadership for California and people here are familiar with her.”
Clinton, for her part, said she identified with Californians and had worked to help provide health care for 1 million children and the families of 20,000 National Guardsmen with legislation she authored.
“I think that California is always about the future,” Clinton said. “Californians are in the solution business. They don't want mor eof the same political back and forth.”
As for the endorsements, Clinton said that, in the end, voters will decide among the candidates.
“We all have people who feel very committed to our candidacies,” Clinton said. “It's all to the good because we want to inspire people. At the end of the day, this comes down to a choic between individuals, which of us with our experiences, are qualified to be president.”

Obama
The Obama campaign, in the meantime, laid out an aggressive strategy for California _ and the 21 other areas where primaries and caucuses are being held on Feb. 5 _ to try to cut into the Clinton lead in polls.
Campaign manager David Plouffe said the Obama television buy is being increased in Los Angeles to pair up with a radio campaign.
Since the Obama victory in South Carolina last week, Plouffe said the campaign has raised $5 million through the internet and has 75,000 volunteers working in the different Feb. 5 states.
“This race now is about delegates and we feel we are in a good position,” he said, adding Obama has 63 delegates, Clinton has 48 and former Sen. John Edwards has 26 of the 2,025 delegates to be seated at the convention.
One area Obama hopes to make up some ground in among Latino voters, citing endorsments by Reps. Linda Sanchez and Xavier Becerra along with Maria Elena Durazo of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO.

Tipoffs:Did the move of California's primary election to Feb. 5 diminish its role rather than enhance it in presidential politics? Should Democrats go to a winner-take-all?

Well, that didn't take long.

Less than two weeks after taking a leave from her job as head of the county Federation of Labor to work for Sen. Barack Obama, Maria Elena Durazo has been named national co-chair of the campaign.

Durazo, whose roots are in organizing workers, will serve as one of the main surrogates for the Obama campaign leading up to the Feb. 5 primary election. One of her first jobs is hosting a series of round table discussions around the state focusing on the economy.

With California's new importance in the presidential primaries and two dynamic sets of major party candidates, voter registration is booming statewide. Patridcia Farrell Aidem in the Daily News.

Aided by feverish registration drives - including several in the San Fernando Valley - there are well over 500,000 new voters in California as Tuesday's registration deadline approaches for the Feb. 5 "Super Duper Tuesday" primary.

"It's a historic election," said Kate Fullmar, spokeswoman for California Secretary of State Debra Bowman.

"For the first time since 1952, there's neither a sitting president nor vice president in the running. And with the earlier primary this year and the field still wide open, California has a chance to be a player."

Thousands of supporters braved chilly conditions Thursday in the San Fernando Valley to hear Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterate her plans to stimulate the country's troubled economy on a day when fears of a looming recession sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging more than 300 points. Tony Castro and Connie Llanos in the Daily News.

But hundreds of backers were left out in the cold at the Clinton rally at California State University, Northridge, where her campaign had booked the campus's Grand Salon, which could seat only 250.

Reaching out to those left in the elements, the New York senator personally greeted and shook hands with many outside the hall who had waited for hours.

It was the picture-perfect setting for Barack Obama's first visit to the San Fernando Valley.

A fan palm waved behind him. The branches of orange, tangerine and lemon trees hung overhead. A light breeze kicked up, the first sign of the Santa Ana winds that would arrive later.Tony Castro in the Daily News.

"I wake up to this every morning," his host, Mimi Vitello, told the Democratic presidential candidate as they walked from her small home into her backyard. There the media horde, down to Inside Edition - prerequisite of all superstars - awaited them Wednesday afternoon.

"I love it," said Obama, smiling confidently and looking at ease in shirt sleeves. "You have a nice home."

Working from the ground up
ith a share of the Democratic presidential front-runner spot and a growing list of key endorsements, the Barack Obama campaign is hitting California hard for its Feb. 5 primary - throwing hundreds of staffers, thousands of volunteers. Tony Castro in the Daily News.

Sen. Barack Obama has picked up some endorsements from a number of local Latino officials to try to bolster his support heading into the Feb. 5 primary election.

State Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, and former state Sen. Martha Escutia announced their support of the Illinois Senator following the withdrawl of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson from the race.

The two are at odds with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who has endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton in the election. Cedillo has been on opposite sides of the mayor in the past, having endorsed former Mayor James Hahn in the 2005 election.

Cedillo is among the most prominent Latino leaders in the state, primarily for his continued efforts pushing legislation that would provide drivers licenses to illegal immigrants.

Supervisor Gloria Molina, who also had backed Richardson, has yet to announce who she will now support for president.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will be in Commerce today to unveil her plan to jumpstart the economy, an aide said.

The junior senator from New York state has said she supports a middle- class tax cut, eliminating tax cuts for the wealthy, and increasing the minimum wage, as have her main rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

Clinton's appearance at the Electrical Training Institute, a facility affiliated with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, will be Clinton's first in Southern California since a Dec. 10 fundraiser. Obama is scheduled to be in the Southland Wednesday for a fundraiser in Pacific Palisades.

Religion and politics, the two subjects Americans shy away from at dinner parties, were front and center this week as the 2008 presidential campaign season officially opened. Patricia Farrell Aidem in the Daily News.

Candidates have unabashedly espoused their faiths, some blatantly and others tacitly, but all in hopes of luring the faithful to their team. The battle to win over Christian evangelicals in particular has further eroded the line between church and state.

Religion has always influenced U.S. politics, said Robert Kaufman, a professor at Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy in Malibu.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama, no matter the results in Thursday's caucuses in Iowa, is already planning his California push for the state's Feb. 5 primary election.

Part of it includes a noon rally scheduled for this Friday at Los Angeles City Hall _ where Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been a prominent supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Obama's event is being coordinated through his City Hall supporter, Council President Eric Garcetti.

No word from the Clinton camp on whether they are planning a similar event in the coming month _ although she is expected to have a highly visible presence in the state that has long supported her husband.

**Latest word is Obama himself will not be attending, but that backers of him will be appearing at the event.

As she stepped onto the stage at the Wadsworth Theater in West Los Angeles last year, Hillary Rodham Clinton's chunky-heeled slipper seemed to catch on the flooring, and for just a moment there was a skip in her step. Tony Castro in the Daily News

The momentary hesitation also may have had something to do with the surprising boos that could be heard amid the cheers and applause as she was introduced to the predominantly Democratic audience gathered for a forum on global warming and America's energy future.

Clinton's chagrin peaked minutes later when she challenged the hecklers near the rear of the theater: