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November 28, 2007
Rudy's Travel Problem
Slowly but surely, the internecine warfare amongst the presidential candidates is escalating. Today, Rudy Giuliani is the subject of an unflattering story reported by Ben Smith at Politico, claiming that, while Mayor, he billed substantial security detail for personal travel -- much of it when his extramarital affair with Judith Nathan blossomed -- to New York City taxpayers. Ouch.
Much has been made of Rudy's marital failings, his wicked temper, and his occasional poor choices in friends and associates, but he has repeatedly asked Americans to look past these personal foibles and concentrate on his record of accomplishment as Mayor of New York City, particularly in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. This story attacks his central argument for electing him president at its core.
The notion that taxpayers had to foot the bill for his security detail while he trapsed off to the Hamptons to cheat on his wife, and that he then tried to hide the expenses in the balance sheets of obscure city departments is, to put it charitably, not helpful to his presidential aspirations. In fact, if the allegations are proven true, this revelation could harden what is now a vague discomfort with Rudy's moral compass and personal judgment into downright distrust of and digust with "America's Mayor."
According to the piece, Giuliani's people have known about the story (about which they conveniently had no comment) for several days, which may explain Rudy's preemptive attacks on fellow GOP competitor Mitt Romney, about which we wrote on Monday. No wonder Giuliani felt like he'd had enough of being attacked!
With his polling numbers headed in the wrong direction of late, this is hardly the kind of coverage Rudy wants just weeks before GOP primary voting begins. To his rivals, of course, the timing is perfect. Watch for more attempted dismantling of Giuliani's image in the coming days, and you can bet Rudy will hit back. We will be watching especially to see if he can keep his famous temper in check at public events. To date, he has done a good job of maintaining a much softer public persona, but stress does funny things to people.
Rudy, for his part, is so far silent on this little "travelgate" story. Can you blame him?
Posted by houtopia at 05:17 PM | Comments (0)
November 26, 2007
Things Are Heating Up
We are back to blogging after a chilly holiday weekend, and things are warming up - both weather-wise here in Texas and on the presidential front in Iowa and New Hampshire. In Houston, it was a beautiful day, with abundant sunshine and a high temperature of 60 degrees. In caucus-crazed Iowa and primary-focused NH, the political heat has been turned up on both the Democratic and Republican races, as the big days (January 3rd and 8th, respectively) are now just over a month away.
On the Democratic side, the two frontrunners seem to have swapped places in recent days. Down for the count in the news coverage (which is ridiculous on its face since no one has yet voted) just a few weeks ago, Barack Obama now seems to have the upper hand. Silly what one good poll number will do for you, huh? Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, now seems to be scrapping. Her polling numbers, inside Iowa and out, seem to have slipped a bit. Seems like natural tightening to us, rather than any fundamental change in the race, as folks are only now beginning to focus in a bit, but you know the press.
Obama has now assumed the confident frontrunner position, while Clinton is trying to take him down a peg. Meanwhile, John Edwards hangs around in third place, perhaps waiting to capitalize on the other two's skirmishes. With five weeks to go, in our judgment Iowa represents all the marbles for the Democratic nomination. If Hillary Clinton finds a way to win on January 3rd, we believe she will run the table. If not, we have a race and it's on to New Hampshire. Due to the expense of the February 3rd mega-state showdown, Obama is likely the only Clinton alternative who can make the race for the long haul. He's raised roughly what she has, while Edwards is just about broke. Hard to believe one sparsely populated state with a demographically homogenous population may choose the 2008 nominee, but such is the current system.
On the Republican side, it's no more Mr. Nice Rudy -- the "Nasty Man" has returned. On his campaign bus in New Hampshire, Giuliani unleashed a barrage of attacks against current GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney. Rudy cited Romney's failure as Massachusetts governor on a host of issues, including taxes, crime and health care.
Clearly trying to right his own sliding poll numbers and put a dent in Romney, Giuliani has foresworn his pledge to run a positive campaign, claiming Romney's repeated attacks have forced him to respond. Whatever his rationale, Rudy is taking the gloves off and beginning to show his true colors. Romney should take notice.
Of course, this latest jockeying only further clouds an already unclear Republican nomination picture. Unlike on the Democratic side, at this point it is difficult to see any single candidate in the GOP field racking up enough delegates after February 5th to win the whole enchilada.
So, after months of campaign coverage when noone cared, things are finally getting interesting. Hey, for this political junkie, it's more booze in the egg nog. Let's party!
Posted by houtopia at 07:16 PM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
As we all take a respit from normal activity to overeat, perhaps enjoy a libation or two, lay on the couch and watch TV, and converse with (or avoid doing so) our loved ones, we wish everyone a festive and safe Turkey Day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Posted by houtopia at 02:33 PM | Comments (0)
November 21, 2007
Bloomberg Getting In?
Several months ago, an independent candidacy for president by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was a widely discussed possibility in the national press. Bloomberg is a popular mayor, who had been a Democrat, switched to Republican to run for the NYC post, and earlier this year dropped his Republican affiliation. Oh, and he's fantastically rich -- can you say self-funded campaign?
For whatever reason, however, talk of a Bloomberg run has died down in recent months, as focus shifted to the nomination races in the two major parties. Well, the chatter is back.
Apparently, Bloomberg has been taking counseling on foreign policy issues (his big area of inexperience should he run) from Nancy Soderberg, a former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and Clinton administration foreign policy advisor. While Soderberg is denying comment, she is already being dubbed "Bloomberg's Condi." If the Mayor decides to run, let's hope Soderberg is a better teacher and he a better student than those role players last time around.
Bloomberg definitely bears watching.
Posted by houtopia at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
November 20, 2007
Two New Polls Of Note
We are churning towards the early presidential nomination contests, and the press is looking for angles - any angles - to pique interest in the races for the Democratic and Republican nominations that have been underway for a mind-numbing year already. Two new polls out yesterday generated mild interest here.
The first is an ABC News/Washington Post look at the Democratic race in Iowa. Now, a few headlines on the Internets have boldly proclaimed the poll shows "Obama Takes Lead In Iowa", or something similar. That's a bit of a stretch folks. The poll has Obama at 30%, Clinton at 26%, and Edwards at 22%. While Barack has moved up modestly since the last poll (Clinton has stayed the same), a 4-point "lead" is within the margin of error of the poll. In other words, they are basically tied, as they have been for months, though there is some small but real positive movement in Obama's numbers and some signs of concern for Clinton.
Of course, the press is looking for any opportunity to change the narrative of a race that has been essentially stable for months, so we are hardly surprised by some of the hyperbole we've seen.
One note about polling the Iowa Caucus -- it's hard. The nature of a caucus system makes it very difficult to measure support in a single poll. For one thing, it is difficult to predict who is likely to attend the caucus rather than simply vote. Unlike a normal primary election, in a caucus, voters must commit to a process that takes hours, rather than a quick trip to the polling place. Secondly, a caucuser's first candidate choice is not necessarily where he or she will end up at the end of the process. Once an initial tally is done, all kinds of jockeying, horse-trading, etc., goes on, and many participants switch their allegiances multiple times before arriving at their final decisions.
So, take any and all polling on the Iowa caucuses with some measure of skepticism. That said, Iowa has always shaped up as a difficult state in the nomination hunt for Senator Clinton, so we are not surprised that her healthy lead elsewhere has not translated into success in the Hawkeye State.
On the Republican side, a more interesting new survey of New Hampshire GOP primary voters is out from CNN. In a nutshell, Romney & Paul are up, Rudy's down, McCain's holding steady, and Fred Thompson is collapsing.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, now garners 33% of GOP support in neighborhing New Hampshire; no surprise there. As we have written, Romney appears to be counting on early successes in Iowa and New Hampshire to build momentum for his nomination heading into the big states showdown on February 5th. So far, that's looking like a good strategy, given the weakness of the candidate field. Ron Paul doubled his support from 4% to 8%. Hey, New Hampshire, with it's "live free or die" libertarian ethos should be a natural fit for Paul, so his gains there don't surprise us.
Giuliani, on the other hand, has seen his numbers erode by a third - from 24% support down to 16%, once again bolstering our argument that the more you get to know Rudy, the less you like him. (Maybe his campaign should send Rick Perry to NH, given how much good he did in Iowa.)
John McCain, written off for dead by pretty much everybody, is holding steady in 2nd place at 18%. We have always thought that in this lackluster GOP field, McCain would ultimately be the strongest general election candidate. He's battle tested (politically and otherwise), and still has crossover appeal stemming from his maverick, outspoken style, despite his embarassing flirtation with the relgious right early in the campaign. McCain is broke, and is an extreme longshot to win the nomination, but it is not impossible that GOP voters may eventually come back to him, however grudgingly, given the lack of a better alternative.
Then there's Grandpa Fred. Once the Great White Hope of the 2008 GOP presidential field, Thompson has laid an absolute egg since entering the race, and it shows in his NH numbers, which have nose-dived from a promising 13% in September to 4% in this latest poll. Not campaigning hard, not raising much money, sounding incoherent on issues; this is not the behavior of a serious candidate for president. And maybe it's just the lack of makeup and soft lighting he gets on Law & Order, but Thompson looks 15 years older on the campaign trail than he did on TV. Given his performance as a candidate so far, Fred's likely to be back to TV makeup and lighting (if the writer's strike ever settles) before he knows it.
Stay tuned folks, actual voting is approaching fast.
Posted by houtopia at 08:55 AM | Comments (0)
November 17, 2007
Swiftboating 2.0?
It is hardly a secret that New York City firefighters do not like former mayor and current presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani. From failing to provide them radios they say would have saved lives on 9/11, to stopping their recovery effort at Ground Zero, to trumpeting his "leadership" during that terrible tragedy as his primary qualification for being president, Rudy has made bitter enemies of FDNY.
And just days after Swift Boat Veteran funder T.Boone Pickens laid down a $1 million challenge to anyone who could disprove even one of the Swift Boaters charges -- a challenge readily accepted by John Kerry -- there are inklings that a new Swift Boat-like effort may be afoot.
This time, however, the target will be a GOP presidential candidate -- Giuliani -- and NY firefighters will be the attackers. (Note: we have long suspected such an effort would oocur; it was merely a matter of when, not if.) The 2008 campaign, much as the 2004 one did to Kerry, would attack Rudy's central rationale for his candidacy - that his efforts in the wake of 9/11 demonstrated his readiness to be president.
Many Americans have vague, positive feelings about Giuliani because of his ubiquitous media presence after September 11th. Polling has shown, however, that general public opinions about Rudy, while positive, are not particularly well formed or deeply held. In other words, folks don't know much about him, and tend to like him less the more they find out.
Watch for a 527, or some similar organization to form in the near future. Wonder if Mitt Romney might pitch in a few bucks?
Posted by houtopia at 10:31 PM | Comments (0)
November 16, 2007
Iowa Meets Rick Perry
Wayne Slater has a great piece in today's Dallas Morning News about our own Texas Governor Rick Perry traveling to the presidential hotbed of Iowa, on behalf of his new best pal, Rudy Giuliani. (Hat tip to Burnt Orange Report for bringing it to our attention.)
The guv seems to prefer spending his time outside of Texas, rather than here, which is just fine by many of us in the Lone Star State. Turns out folks in Iowa like him well enough -- after all, he's pretty and makes a nice first impression -- but then they don't know Rick the way we do.
Though Perry did his level best to sell Rudy to Iowa Republicans, apparently many are not buying. Questions about immigration, abortion, gays, etc., persisted, but Governor Rick didn't have the answers that pleased them. His sunny optimism about Giuliani's conservative bona fides was received with skepticism, to put it mildly, by Iowans.
And the guv, ever modest, even floated his own name as Rudy's possible number two, only to quickly shoot it down. Subtle, huh?
Anyhow, read Slater's piece. He exposes Rick Perry in ways we Texans can really appreciate.
Posted by houtopia at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)
November 14, 2007
The Net Zero Potato Chip
As we have written recently, the issue of climate change continues to garner significant attention in the news. In a piece for publication in tomorrow's NY Times, Andrew Martin highlights a very interesting new project being undertaken by Frito-Lay -- the eco-friendly potato chip factory.
Frito-Lay has already been a leader in efforts to improve energy efficiency, reducing its water use by 38%, natural gas use by 27% and electricity consumption by 21% since 1999. Now it is beginning an ambitious project at its Casa Grande, AZ factory -- to make the facility, which makes 212 million bags of chips each year, a "net zero" energy user.
The goal requires significant initial cost, and will not be easy to attain, but the fact that it is being attempted is exciting and emphasizes what for us is an extremely important aspect of efforts to combat climate change -- market-driven solutions.
While we believe government must play a role in nudging the nation towards more responsible behavior, particularly where vehicle fuel economy standards are concerned, the biggest strides are likely to be made if the private sector leads the way. Certainly, rapidly rising energy costs have already been a catalyst for change.
It is a worrisome time for inhabitants of this fragile planet, but it is also an exciting time in many ways. We are believers in humanity's ability to innovate its way out of the climate crisis we face, and we salute the efforts of those companies, such as Frito-Lay, who are leading the way.
Posted by houtopia at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)
November 13, 2007
Team Rudy's Unconventional Approach
Another great blog post earlier today from WaPo's Dan Balz.
In this entry, Balz visits the Giuliani campaign's notion that it is possible for them to lose the first three GOP primary contests -- in Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan -- and remain viable heading into the bigger state prizes beginning on January 29th in Florida.
It is interesting spin to be sure, but not entirely convincing. As sources quoted in the article point out, momentum is important in politics. In our judgment, if Rudy loses the first three contests, it may well threaten his current perceived advantages in subsequent states, though if early wins are split among other contenders, he won't be hurt as much.
The piece notes that Team Rudy, by floating the notion of winning the prize in spite of key early losses, may be deliberatley lowering expectations only to ultimately beat them. If so, it's a calculated gamble, but not one without potential upside.
Of course, if stories like this one keep surfacing, Rudy may not turn out to be viable at all. And what a shame that would be.
Posted by houtopia at 11:01 PM | Comments (0)
November 12, 2007
Inside The Iowa Caucus
The 2008 presidential race is increasingly honing in on Iowa, as the nation's first caucus for the Democratic and Republican contenders approaches on January 3rd. Current polling shows that on the Democratic side, frontrunner Hillary Clinton holds a six-point lead over Barack Obama if you average the polls, while Mitt Romney is up an average of 14 points in GOP polling over Mike Huckabee.
Polling, however, can be misleading when it comes to the Iowa Caucus, because voters don't simply cast a ballot and leave as they do in other state primaries. Rather, a lengthy process in all 1,800 precincts and 99 counties ensues, where caucus-goers repeatedly switch allegiances and sides before a final tally for each candidate is reached.
It is a peculiar political system that often goes a long way toward picking each party's nominee every four years. In today's Washington Post, Dan Balz has an informative blog post about the how the Iowa Caucus actually works. It's worth checking out.
The system clearly favors those who have campaign organizations spread throughout the state, rather than concentrated in just a few areas. And while being a frontrunner has advantages, it does not guarantee victory under the odd rules. Stay tuned, it will be an interesting ride these next several weeks.
Posted by houtopia at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2007
An Interesting Night
Well folks, another election is in the books. The 2007 affair was not particularly memorable here in the Houston area. In Harris County, about 193,000 people voted -- just shy of 11% turnout. In the City of Houston, 123,000 or so ballots were cast, 13.5% turnout.
There was no suspense in the Mayor's race. As we expected, Mayor White fell a bit short of his 90+% performance of 2005, this time settling for 86% and change against two nominal opponents. Remember, at this time in 2005, the City had rallied around the Mayor's extraordinary efforts following Hurricane Katrina. A little slippage in 2007 was to be expected, but 86% remains a dominant performance.
As for Council races, runoffs are on tap in Districts' D and E. In D, Wanda Adams and Lawrence Allen made the cut, while presumed frontrunner Michael P. Williams fell short after reportedly running a lackluster campaign. In E, Mike Sullivan and Annette Dwyer advanced as expected.
Only one at-large Council race held any suspense - Position #5 to replace term-limited Michael Berry. There will be a runoff here as well. As expected, Jolanda Jones ran first and claimed one of those spots. In a surprise, Joe Trevino took the other. Most =figured either Jack Christie, Tom Nixon or Zaf Tahir to make the finals, but Trevino, likely getting a bloc vote from the Hispanic community, edged them out. It must have been a particularly tough night for Tahir, who raised and spent far more than the other contenders only to run 5th with 10% of the vote. There were those who told him he had no base in a citywide electorate and therefore no real chance to win, but...
One other interesting note from the at-large races. Perennial candidate and also-ran "Grif" Griffin earned 47% of the vote against a certain first-term member in Position #2. Note to the incumbent: when you only won your citywide campaign by 600 votes two years ago after running third the cycle before that, maybe you should spend less time meddling in other races, and more time taking care of your own business. A decidedly weak performance from a Council Member who reportedly aspires to bigger and better things down the road. Color us unimpressed.
Finally, the bonds. All but one (the jail) of the six Harris County bonds passed, though only two of them by comfortable margins -- the Port and the forensic center. Newly appointed County Judge Ed Emmett has hardly shown much political muscle since taking office, and this performance won't help him a bit. We're betting Emmett's going to have big trouble indeed from Charles Bacarisse next Spring, and will be hard pressed to survive.
The much-maligned HISD Bond squeaked by, 52-48%. Its passage was a blow to certain elected officials who came out strongly in opposition, and a victory for HISD's students.
On to 2008!
UPDATE: Due to the lateness of the hour, we neglected to mention the other key District Council race -- in I to replace Carol Alvarado. Her former staffer James Rodriguez won by a surprisingly large margin.
Posted by houtopia at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2007
Kerik As Proxy
Like the current occupant of the White House, 2008 Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani places a high value on loyalty. For example, last week ABC News revealed that Giuliani continues to employ Monsignor Alan Placa, a Catholic priest, despite Placa being accused of child molestation. Though the charges were leveled against Placa five years ago by several now adult men, Rudy defended his relationship with the former priest just last week at a campaign stop in Milwaukee.
Today, Giuliani took up for another embattled friend, his former NYC Police Chief Bernard Kerik. Kerik is under felony investigation by the feds, and stands a good chance of being indicted in the near future. But Rudy defended Kerik today before a New Hampshire audience, telling the Manchester crowd that while there were "mistakes made" with Bernie, that if a Giuliani presidency could have the "same degree of success and failure... this country will be in great shape."
As puzzling as Rudy's public defense of these troubled associates may seem, we wonder if he isn't using their examples to indirectly make a case about himself. Giuliani's saying, these guys have warts (just like me), but they (and I) are worth it. In other words, so what if I'm a serial liar, filanderer, and quite possibly corrupt, I'll get the terrorists. (In the same speech today Rudy refused to rule out torture as an interrogation technique.)
It is an interesting argument, but the jury's out on how effective it will be with voters. A recent focus group of Virginia Republican voters does not augur well for Giuliani. The more folks get to know Rudy, the less they like him. Hey, just ask New Yorkers.
Posted by houtopia at 09:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 02, 2007
One More Look At Early Vote
Today is the last day to vote early for the 2007 general election. Polls are open until 7 p.m. this evening, and a list of locations is here. Election Day, of course, is next Tuesday the 6th.
A few days ago, we looked at the last week's early vote totals in comparison with the 2005 election. Through last week, the in-person early vote was running about 65% of the 2005 total.
Here are some updated numbers through yesterday:
2005 in-person early vote through Day 11: 53,152
2007 in-person early vote through Day 11: 32,947 (62% of the 2005 number)
2005 mail ballots returned through Day 11: 3,618
2007 mail ballots returned through Day 11: 6,432 (up 77% from the 2005 number)
2005 total votes through Day 11: 56,770
2007 total votes through Day 11: 39,379 (69% of the 2005 number)
So, while early in-person voting is way down from 2005, mail ballots are up significantly. In total, we are at 69% of the 2005 number. If the trend holds today and next Tuesday, that would put the City of Houston vote at about 132,000, and the countywide vote at about 229,000 - turnout in the neighborhood of 11-12%.
It is also interesting to compare some of the individual early vote location totals from 2005 to 2007. The heaviest early voting location in the county is always the Metropolitan Multi-Service Center on W. Gray in the Montrose/River Oaks area. It still holds the title, but the drop-off is striking.
2005 early in-person vote at Metropolitan MSC through Day 11: 4,717
2007 early in-person vote at Metropolitan MSC through Day 11: 2,620 (56% of 2005 number)
Several early vote locations are way below their 2005 totals:
Katy 2005 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,635
Katy 2007 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 424 (26% of 2005 number)
Tomball 2005 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,463
Tomball 2007 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 407 (28% of 2005 number)
(Note: Tomball had two school district trustee positions up for election in 2005 -- not sure about 2007)
Pasadena 2005 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 2,509
Pasadena 2007 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 817 (33% of 2005 number)
(Note: the City of Pasadena had two propositions on the ballot in 2005, and there was a special election for state representative to replace Joe Moreno, which may explain the difference)
There are a few locations, however, which are voting above their 2005 totals, mostly in the south side African American locations, as well as on the north side in Acres Homes and at Beebe Tabernacle, and out northwest in Jersey Village.
South Side African American:
Power Center 2005 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 540
Power Center 2007 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 736 (up 36% from 2005 number)
Sunnyside MSC 2005 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,246
Sunnyside MSC 2007 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,653 (up 33% from 2005 number)
Palm Center 2005 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,341
Palm Center 2007 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,525 (up 14% from 2005 number)
These south side increases are likely explained by the open seat race for Houston City Council District D, as well as the HISD Bond election and an HISD Trustee race.
North Side African American:
Beebe Tabernacle 2005 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 840
Beebe Tabernacle 2007 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,046 (up 25% from 2005 number)
Acres Homes MSC 2005 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,165
Acres Homes MSC 2007 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,258 ( up 8% from 2005 number)
The north side African American neighborhoods is where opposition to the HISD Bond is centered, which likely explains increased turnout, as well as school board races in Aldine and HISD.
Northwest:
Jersey Village 2005 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,713
Jersey Village 2007 in-person early vote total through Day 11: 1,832 (up 7% from 2005 number)
This increase is almost certainly explained by a school bond issue for Cy Fair ISD.
Open Houston City Council races in Districts E and I do not seem to have inspired heavy turnout so far. In District E, both the Clear Lake and Kingwood early voting locations are running about half of their 2005 totals. In District I, the HCC Southeast voting location is at 83% of its 2005 number.
Stay tuned.
Posted by houtopia at 09:12 AM | Comments (1)
November 01, 2007
Obama On Iran
As the Iowa caucuses approach (in a little over two months) current second-place contender for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, is searching for angles to gain ground on frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton. Lauded as a fresh face with a fresh approach to presidential politics, Obama has consistently trailed the less dynamic but more seasoned Clinton in primary polls.
While there is a sense of excitement about Obama, many wonder, given his relative youth and even more youthful appearance, if he is yet ready to be president. And while many Democratic primary voters have serious issues with aspects of Hillary Clinton's record as a U.S. Senator, they also know she's politically battle-tested and not prone to mistakes.
As the rest of the Democratic field has recently taken aim at HRC in an attempt to bring her back to the pack, picking at hawkish aspects of her foreign policy seems to be the attack of choice. After all, many Demoractic voters, particularly in an anti-war state like Iowa, recall her vote authorizing President Bush to invade Iraq and subsequent defense of her decision with something less than fondness.
Obama, for his part, touts his opposition to the Iraq War from the beginning, when he was an Illinois State Senator. In fairness, it was likely much easier to oppose the war when you didn't have to actually vote on it, but he draws a real contrast nonetheless. Now that said contrast has receded in importance, however, his campaign clearly believes he must draw another to demonstrate his readiness for office and make headway in the polls.
In a piece by Michael Gordon running in tomorrow's NY Times, Obama attempts to draw that new contrast, on Iran. Clearly seeking to capitalize on Clinton's vote for the Lieberman-Kyl Senate bill, which declares Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist -- a vote which was highly unpopular with many on the left -- Obama lays out his case for aggressive "personal diplomacy" with Iran.
It is an understandable and interesting move by Team Obama. Whether it will work is anybody's guess.
Posted by houtopia at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)