Articles of Interest 4-23-08
196 Days until Election Day
MORNING UPDATE:
Pennsylvania: Senator Clinton pulls off a victory and lives to fight another day. Pundits were all concentrating on the “delegate count”…but this is all coming down to the power brokers, union bosses and political boss super delegates.
The Bay County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner was a great success. Republicans from around the county and neighboring counties joined GOP Chairman Matt Lance, who did a great job!
U.S. Senate candidate Jack Hoogendyk and GOP Congressional candidate Matt Sawicki also addressed the Bay County dinner.
Yesterday I debated Democrat Chairman Mark Brewer at the MI Pharmacists Legislative Day…Cuban style healthcare versus patient’s choice…talk about being on the right side of the issues!
THE REST OF THE STORY:
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Saul Anuzis
STATE STORIES
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/OPINION01/804230320/1007/OPINION
Michigan Business Tax turns into monstrosity
Ronald D. Bassey
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Michigan Business Tax is a convoluted mess. It is a tax supposedly on Michigan business activity, but it is imposed on personal investment income too, despite allegedly having been fixed. And it reaches out to impose a tax on companies outside of the state, even if they aren't doing business here. The tax provisions read as though no one looked at what they wrote in the statute. Provisions contradict each other. The result is that businesses have to spend untold amounts of money on accountants, lawyers and other tax advisers to sort out the mess and calculate their tax bills. It hardly seems like the less complicated, less burdensome tax that petition signers requested when they got the Legislature to eliminate the Single Business Tax and asked for a more sensible replacement. Many of the problems are technical, but technicalities can raise tax bills and make companies consider going elsewhere.
Michigan Senate approves business tax breaks
4/22/2008, 3:50 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Senate has approved tax breaks to help small businesses, but the legislation could decrease state government's budget by $162 million this year. A bill approved 23-15 Tuesday would let more small business owners qualify for credits against the new Michigan Business Tax. It also would increase the state's entrepreneurial tax credit. Business owners and others now can't qualify for certain tax credits if they make more than $180,000. The bill would raise the income threshold to $250,000. Republicans say the measure would stimulate the economy. Democrats say it would devastate the state budget after lawmakers just raised taxes to balance Michigan's finances. The bill was sent to the Democratic-led House, where it is expected to face opposition.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/BIZ/804230337
Insurance bill battle heats up
A Senate subcommittee may adopt alternative to legislation on high-risk people passed by House.
Christina Rogers / The Detroit News
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
A high-stakes battle to overhaul the state's market for selling medical insurance to individuals could take a turn today if a Senate subcommittee decides to adopt an alternative to controversial legislation passed last fall by the Michigan House of Representatives. The Senate Health Policy Committee could swap the original House legislation, backed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, for one of two alternative versions -- one proposed by committee chairman Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, several weeks ago and the other by committee member Sen. Jason Allen, R-Traverse City, last week. "The committee may choose to sweep away one and adopt another as a starting point," George said. With hearings scheduled today and Thursday to make that decision, George still hopes the committee can take a vote on April 30.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/OPINION01/804230324/1007/OPINION
House health care bills would protect consumers
State Rep. Virgil K. Smith
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The Michigan House acted thoughtfully and decisively when it passed legislation that would protect consumers who need insurance and lower the high rates that many residents face. The April 8 editorial on the issue ("Blue Cross reform bills still need more balance") glosses over the inherent benefits of the House package to promote a Senate plan that would strip consumers of important protections. The House plan is designed to give consumers more choice. By allowing a subsidiary of Blue Cross, such as the Accident Fund, to involve themselves in other lines of insurance, we are bringing more competition and offering consumers more choices, especially in urban areas where rates are extraordinarily high.
House OKs auto insurance rate bill
4/22/2008, 7:28 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Democrat-led state House has passed a bill aimed at stopping the use of credit scoring in setting auto insurance rates. The bill passed Tuesday by a 57-49 vote. It could face a much tougher time getting passed in the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans. Supporters say people's credit ratings should not cause their insurance rates to go up. Opponents say the proposal could backfire and lead to higher insurance rates. The House earlier this month passed bills that would give state regulators power to order refunds if it's determined that customers have been overcharged for auto insurance. Customers also would have more leeway to sue insurance companies.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/METRO01/804230359/1409/METRO
Annexation bill defeated
Senate's rebuff of proposal is setback in fight to keep Livonia from taking in site slated for $800M project.
Christine Ferretti / The Detroit News
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP -- The Michigan Senate on Tuesday defeated legislation to protect charter townships from annexation, a blow to efforts to prevent the former Northville Psychiatric Hospital from being swallowed into neighboring Livonia. Senators voted down the measure sponsored by state Sen. Bruce Patterson, R-Canton Township, by a 20-18 vote. There's a chance it could be reconsidered, officials said. The action is the latest in a tit-for-tat between Northville Township and the owners of the sprawling former state hospital off Seven Mile near Haggerty. The township has blocked efforts by REIS and Schostak Brothers & Co. for the $800 million Highwood development of shops, offices and more than 1,000 homes. Township officials say some aspects of the plan -- the height of some buildings and density of the lots -- don't meet zoning rules. Developers counter the project won't work if it's scaled back.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/POLITICS/804230358/1022/POLITICS
Groups to mend child welfare
Gary Heinlein / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
LANSING -- The Michigan Department of Human Services and partner groups are setting up a yearlong task force of more than 70 people, at a state cost of about $300,000, to dramatically reform welfare programs for children. The task force, which organizers said includes children affected by the programs, will issue its report in February, Human Services Director Ismael Ahmed said Tuesday. The first meeting will be May 19. Members include lawmakers, welfare activists and university officials. "Reformation of child welfare is our top issue and will be for as long as I'm here," Ahmed said. Leading the task force will be C. Patrick Babcock, a former state Human Services director, and Carol Goss, chief executive of the Skillman Foundation. Babcock, the department's director from 1987-91, vowed the task force "will do everything possible to improve life outcomes" for children who are in the state's social welfare system, including 75,000 a year in protective services.
Michigan Capitol rally pushes for autism insurance coverage
4/22/2008, 12:16 p.m. EDT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Supporters of legislation to get better insurance coverage for autism are calling for action at the state Capitol. Parents and supporters of children with autism rallied at the Capitol on Tuesday. They want the Legislature to pass bills that would require insurers to cover some autism therapies, screenings and diagnosis. Most of the bills in the package have not passed either the House or the Senate. A few related bills have passed the House. The bills have drawn some opposition from those who say more mandated insurance coverage would raise the cost of health care plans for Michigan businesses and residents.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/OPINION01/804230321/1007/OPINION
New fuel economy rules unfair to auto industry
The Detroit News
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The federal government keeps moving the goal post on fuel economy standards -- imposing billions of dollars in costs on auto manufacturers. Yet it will not take the political risk of conserving oil by raising taxes on gasoline. The Transportation Department Tuesday proposed new fuel economy rules that would require cars to average 35.7 miles per gallon by 2015 and light trucks to average 28.6 miles, for a combined fleet average of 31.8 miles per gallon by that year. This requirement is a more aggressive timetable than Congress imposed when it passed an energy bill in December, which required an industry fleet average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. This new requirement calls for annual increases in fuel economy of 4.6 percent annually, up from the 4 percent demanded in last year's congressional legislation. The industry averaged 26.7 miles per gallon in the 2007 model year for cars and trucks.
Thousands of new jobs coming to Kalamazoo area
4/22/2008, 5:54 p.m. EDT
By JAMES PRICHARD
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A clinical research contractor, enticed by an attractive package of state tax incentives, announced a $330 million expansion that will create 3,300 jobs in southwestern Michigan's burgeoning life-sciences corridor while offering a boost to Michigan's sagging economy. Privately held MPI Research Inc. chose to expand close to its Mattawan headquarters and into nearby Kalamazoo instead of at competing sites in Pennsylvania and China. The company does contract research for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, animal health and chemical companies. MPI will invest approximately $300 million to expand in Mattawan and $30 million to launch new operations in downtown Kalamazoo.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/BIZ/804230345
Home builder Centex to leave Mich.
Company will finish projects in various stages of completion; spokesman cites bad market.
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Centex Corp., which has built 4,400 homes in Metro Detroit since 2001, is leaving Michigan. "We are in the middle of the worst housing market in modern history," said Eric Bruner, spokesman for the Dallas company, explaining the decision. The company will finish building homes that are in various stages of completion in 18 different areas in Metro Detroit, Bruner said. He didn't know how many homes are slated to be completed. It includes subdivisions in Southfield, Taylor, Dexter and Ypsilanti Township, among other suburbs. The homes range in price from the $100,000s to the high $200,000s. The company has 70 Michigan employees, and over the year their jobs will be phased out, Bruner said.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/OPINION03/804230347/1031
An upside in state's economy
Daniel Howes
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
To those convinced nothing good can come from Michigan's economic tailspin, that corporate retrenchment always gives talent a one-way ticket out of the state, I give you former Pfizer Inc. researcher Michael Wilson. The day after his 24-year career at the pharmaceutical giant ended last October, the potential casualty of Pfizer's surprise move to close its Ann Arbor research labs started his new job as a researcher in the medicinal chemistry department of the University of Michigan's College of Pharmacy. "It's a change in the paradigm," says Wilson, one of 13 Pfizer scientists recruited by the university in an effort to keep Pfizer talent from leaving the state and, secondly, to focus on drug discovery that could be commercialized in a spin-off or licensed to Big Pharma.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/SCHOOLS/804230374
School reform pushed: U.S. education secretary visits Detroit to reveal plan
Karen Bouffard / The Detroit News
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
DETROIT -- U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings chose Detroit, which has the lowest graduation rate in the country, to announce sweeping new No Child Left Behind regulations aimed at addressing the nation's dropout problem and increasing accountability in key services mandated by the law. Spellings said the reforms, which come six years after the federal education law was implemented, are meant to speed up improvements at the nation's worst performing schools, which have failed to make progress on federal benchmarks for at least two years in a row. Michigan has more than 300 such schools -- including 65 in Detroit -- that are in various phases of improvement, including 63 that are being restructured, according to the state Department of Education. Her announcement coincides with release of a report today from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Education Policy, which found Michigan has become stricter in dealing with failing schools in an effort to speed their recovery.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/NEWS15/804230429
Calls to seat Mich. delegates to grow
BY TODD SPANGLER
April 23, 2008
WASHINGTON -- Even before Tuesday's primary win in Pennsylvania, Hillary Clinton's surrogates were renewing calls for Michigan's votes to count, repeating a trend begun more than a month ago in Ohio. Don't expect a new push for a do-over election. But the seating of Michigan's and Florida's disallowed delegates will be a theme as Clinton takes her fight to another industrial state, Indiana, which votes May 6. Clinton won Michigan's Jan. 15 primary when her only real opponent was a vote for "Uncommitted" because Barack Obama and other key candidates in the race at that time had taken their names off the ballot. They did so because the national Democratic Party had already declared that Michigan's vote (and later Florida's) didn't count because the state had scheduled a contest too early under party rules.
http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/COL04/804230321
Alienating new voters in Michigan
BY BRIAN DICKERSON
April 23, 2008
If you're a young voter energized by Barack Obama's historic presidential candidacy, you probably thought the Michigan Democratic Party had run out of ways to make you feel marginalized. After all, state party leaders have already put on the only Democratic primary in the country that didn't include your candidate (although Obama surely bears his share of the blame for that fiasco). Then, when you gamely followed state Democratic chair Mark Brewer's instructions to express your presidential preference by voting for the Uncommitted slate, national party leaders assured you that none of the votes cast in Michigan's rump primary would count. So it's not like you didn't know which way the wind was blowing when state Democratic Party regulars gathered in 15 district conventions last Saturday to select members of a Michigan delegation that may never be seated at August's Democratic National Convention.
State commission recommends Ingham County judge be removed
4/22/2008, 5:48 p.m. EDT
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A state commission recommended Tuesday that Ingham County Circuit Judge Beverley Nettles-Nickerson be removed from office. The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission unanimously found that the judge fabricated documents, wrongly dismissed cases, was excessively absent, allowed a social relationship to influence the release of a criminal defendant from probation and "recklessly flaunted her judicial office." It saved its harshest criticism for a finding of perjury, saying Nettles-Nickerson misled a court about where her husband lived during the couple's divorce proceedings.
http://macombdaily.com/stories/042208/loc_local02.shtml
Macomb delegates divided
Clinton, Obama camps admit it will be difficult for Dems to come together
By Chad Selweski
April 22, 2008
Democrats from the two congressional districts that include Macomb County have elected six delegates who back Hillary Clinton and five "uncommitted" delegates who support Barack Obama. Those representatives from the 10th and 12th districts will be among the 128 pledged delegates from Michigan who expect to participate in the Aug. 25-28 Democratic National Convention. Delegates were chosen last weekend at district conventions held across the state, with party officials trying to keep the simmering feud between Clinton and Obama supporters from boiling over. "I'm pleasantly relieved that there wasn't more tension," said Henry Yanez of Sterling Heights, the 10th District chair. Yet, the tensions were just below the surface. Rose Marie Fessler of Sterling Heights, an Obama supporter who was elected as an uncommitted delegate, said she would have a hard time voting for Clinton in the fall general election.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/OPINION01/804230319/1007/OPINION
Macomb County executive is essential for creating jobs
U.S. Rep. Sander Levin
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The full transformation of Michigan's economic engine requires that Macomb County operate on all cylinders. For decades, the hardworking residents of Macomb have helped make manufacturing a major source of good-paying, middle-class jobs. Now Macomb County, as the third largest county in the state, needs to play a key role in the spread of advanced manufacturing technologies and the attraction of new technologies to create jobs essential for our economic future. There are no quick or magical solutions. But I do believe that central to this future for Macomb is the creation of a county executive form of government. Every day, leaders at every level in the private and public sectors are doing their level best to patchwork together steps forward.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/METRO/804230402
Bid to save parts of Tiger Stadium falters
Demolition near; funds must be raised by June for dugouts, home plate.
Louis Aguilar / The Detroit News
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
DETROIT -- The clock is ticking once again on the destruction of old Tiger Stadium, with a nonprofit group racing to raise $15 million to save part of the vacant ballpark before demolition begins in a matter of weeks. Work to tear down most of the historic stadium and sell it for scrap is slated to begin as soon as private contractors can get started. The city's Economic Development Corp. awarded the contract Tuesday to two companies. The demolition agreement also gives the nonprofit Old Tiger Stadium Conservancy a number of deadlines -- starting with June 1 -- to come up with the money to preserve the dugouts and home plate area of the stadium. City officials have extended previous deadlines several times, but Tuesday the development agency made it clear that time is up.
NATIONAL STORIES
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-mccain22apr22,1,446221.story
John McCain takes a tour off the beaten campaign path
On a visit to mostly black and Democratic parts of Alabama, the Republican seeks to broaden his appeal.
By Michael Finnegan and Maeve Reston, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
April 22, 2008
SELMA, ALA. -- It was an unlikely setting for Republican presidential hopeful John McCain to campaign in Monday: the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where black protesters were beaten in a 1965 march for voting rights. McCain joined hands later with black women who sang gospel spirituals to him as they rode a ferry across the muddy Alabama River near Gee's Bend, a community famous for its quilts and for its role in the civil rights struggle. "Ninety years old and I never thought I'd see this," quilt maker Nettie Young said. "Republicans don't come to this bend." That was exactly the point. McCain was not hunting for votes in the overwhelmingly Democratic black communities of central Alabama. Nor will he be looking for support from residents of the hurricane-ravaged 9th Ward of New Orleans on a visit later this week.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-04-21-mccainsouth_N.htm
McCain to hit hard on free trade in hard-hit town
By David Jackson, USA TODAY
April 22, 2008
THOMASVILLE, Ala. — Sen. John McCain heads for a battleground of the free-trade fight today. Youngstown, Ohio, is a struggling steel town where jobs have been lost and free-trade deals are unpopular. McCain, however, is prepared to argue the overall benefits of unfettered trade, aides said. "Protectionism devastates the economy," said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to McCain. In an economic speech last week, McCain said: "When new trading partners can sell in our market, and American companies can sell in theirs, the gains are great and they are lasting." As McCain conducts a town hall meeting at Youngstown State University, he will be fewer than 10 miles from the Pennsylvania border, a state where Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are battling it out in a pivotal primary today. Both Democrats have pledged to revamp U.S. trade policy.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/mccain-these-jobs-are-gone-gone-gone/
McCain: These Jobs are Gone, Gone, Gone
By Elisabeth Bumiller
April 22, 2008, 5:30 pm
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio—Is NAFTA a four-letter word? No, Senator John McCain told an Ohio voter on Tuesday, he didn’t think so.“I am prone on occasion to make a mistake,’’ the presumptive Republican nominee told Jack O’Connell, a retired labor leader, at a town hall-style meeting at Youngstown State University. Still, he said, “last time I checked, NAFTA has five letters, not four.’’ Mr. McCain was responding to a question from Mr. O’Connell, who called NAFTA, or the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement, “a bad four letters,’’ then asked Mr. McCain what he thought of the deal. Mr. McCain’s answer made the crowd laugh, even if his more substantive response –- the overall result of NAFTA has been “a benefit to our country’’ — was politically unpalatable to many Ohio voters who blame the trade deal for lost American jobs.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/us/politics/23assess.html?hp
Clinton Outduels Obama in Primary
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
April 23, 2008
For better or worse — and many Democrats fear it is for worse — the race goes on. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton defeated Senator Barack Obama in Pennsylvania on Tuesday by enough of a margin to continue a battle that Democrats increasingly believe is undermining their effort to unify the party and prepare for the general election against Senator John McCain. Despite a huge investment of time and money by Mr. Obama and pressure on Mrs. Clinton by the party establishment to consider folding her campaign, she won her third big state in a row. Mrs. Clinton showed again that she is a tenacious campaigner with an ability to connect with the blue-collar voters Mr. Obama has found elusive and who could be critical to a Democratic victory in November.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120891855784337237.html?mod=opinion_main_review_and_outlooks
Hillary Hangs In
Wall Street Journal
April 23, 2008
Just when Democrats think they might have a Presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton spoils the party. With her solid victory in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, the former first lady kept her campaign alive and underscored doubts about Barack Obama's November appeal. First in bellwether Ohio, and now in another crucial swing state, the New York Senator has shown her tenacity. She and her husband are nothing if not relentless, and Mr. Obama can be forgiven if he wakes up at night thinking he's in one of those "Terminator" movies where the machine in the form of a human being just keeps coming. Nothing – not Bill Clinton's gaffes, not the Bosnian sniper-fire fantasy, not even being outspent 3-to-1 – has been able to stop her.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4701035&page=1
Dems Fight On, Clinton Wins PA Primary
Despite Delegate Lead, Obama Can't Seem to Lock Up Democratic Nomination
By JENNIFER PARKER
April 22, 2008
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., has won the Pennsylvania primary vote as expected, claiming victory in a Philadelphia speech. "Some people counted me out and said to drop out but the American people don't quit, and they deserve a president who doesn't quit, either," Clinton told supporters at a victory rally after walking out to Tom Petty's song "I Won't Back Down." "We were up against a formidable opponent who outspent us 3-1... trying to knock us out of the race," Clinton said of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., "Well the people of Pennsylvania had other ideas today." Obama briefly congratulated Clinton in a speech in Evansville, Ind., but then turned to his common theme of the need for change in American politics and to attacks on Republican John McCain.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/us/politics/23penn.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
With Clear Victory, She Has Rationale to Fight On
By PATRICK HEALY
April 23, 2008
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton scored a decisive victory over Senator Barack Obama on Tuesday in the Pennsylvania primary, giving her candidacy a critical boost as she struggles to raise money and persuade party leaders to let the Democratic nominating fight go on. If Mrs. Clinton did not emerge from the bruising six-week campaign with a race-turning landslide — she still trails Mr. Obama in the popular vote and the delegate count — her victory nonetheless gives her a strong rationale for continuing her candidacy in spite of those Democrats who would prefer to coalesce around Mr. Obama. Indeed, in her victory speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, Mrs. Clinton used the words “fight,” “fighter” and “fighting” repeatedly — not only to promise financially struggling Americans that she would protect them, but also to convey that she had the resolve and confidence to stay in the race.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9811.html
Clinton frames win as sign of strength
By BEN SMITH
4/23/08 12:03 AM EST
PHILADELPHIA — Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton celebrated another must-win victory Tuesday night in Pennsylvania, with a convincing win over Sen. Barack Obama that she sought to frame not just as a sign of her strength but of Obama’s abiding weakness. “Maybe the question ought to be, ‘Why can’t he close the deal?’” Clinton said Tuesday morning outside a polling place in Conshohocken, Pa. In her victory speech, Clinton cast her 10-point margin — larger than late polls suggested — as a pivot. “You made your voices heard, and because of you, the tide is turning,” she said Tuesday night. But both candidates wake up Wednesday morning to the same underlying realities. Obama leads among delegates to the Democratic National Convention, and Clinton faces another must-win primary in two weeks.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/22/politics/main4036287.shtml
Why Clinton Won Pennsylvania
CBSNews.com Analysis: Results Show Electorate Divided On Education, Race, Income And Religion
April 22, 2008
Monika McDermott.
Hillary Clinton won the Pennsylvania Democratic primary by hanging tough with her base supporters in a state in which they are plentiful, even managing to beat back strong Obama support from a sizable block of newly registered Democrats. The biggest story of the evening, however, may be the polarized electorate that turned out to vote. Pennsylvania's Democratic primary results, while smaller than the lead Sen. Hillary Clinton once had over Sen. Barack Obama in the state, show an electorate consistently divided on factors like education, race and income and also newly divided along religious lines.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/opinion/23wed1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print
The Low Road to Victory
New York Times
April 23, 2008
The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it. Voters are getting tired of it; it is demeaning the political process; and it does not work. It is past time for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to acknowledge that the negativity, for which she is mostly responsible, does nothing but harm to her, her opponent, her party and the 2008 election. If nothing else, self interest should push her in that direction. Mrs. Clinton did not get the big win in Pennsylvania that she needed to challenge the calculus of the Democratic race. It is true that Senator Barack Obama outspent her 2-to-1. But Mrs. Clinton and her advisers should mainly blame themselves, because, as the political operatives say, they went heavily negative and ended up squandering a good part of what was once a 20-point lead.
http://gns.gannettonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080422/COLUMNISTS01/804220301
Bitter day for Obama in Pa.
CHUCK RAASCH, GNS Political Writer
April 22. 2008 10:38PM
WASHINGTON — It was a bitter ending for Barack Obama in Pennsylvania, as his protracted presidential fight with the resilient Hillary Rodham Clinton goes on. Clinton's win Tuesday in the Keystone State, declared by news organizations with less than 10 percent of the vote counted, reinforces prospects that the primaries and caucuses that began in the January cold of Iowa might not be over when the final votes are counted in June. The next big showdown in the increasingly vitriolic contest for the Democratic nomination is May 6 in Indiana and North Carolina. Polls show Clinton running even with Obama in Indiana, but she trails by double digits in North Carolina.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26126
Thoroughly Beatable Barack
by Jed Babbin
Posted: 04/21/2008
Though Hillary Clinton probably can’t, John McCain can certainly defeat Barack Obama. Obama’s weakness has nothing to do with his race, his liberalism, or his inexperience. The Greeks had a term for it: hamartia. The one flaw -- different in every man -- that makes him imperfect, vulnerable and gives his adversaries, if they discover it, the ability to bring him down. Achilles’ was his heel. Obama’s is his political glass jaw. The supposedly-brilliant Democratic wunderkind can’t take a punch. Like a Hollywood actor, he’s only comfortable, quick and charismatic as long as the crowd is oohing and ahhing. But the moment that he is challenged -- as we first saw in his presser after he lost the Ohio primary in March and again last week in the ABC debate -- the mask shatters.
http://www.nationalpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=459951
Barack Obama--known by the company he keeps
Theo Caldwell, National Post
Published: Monday, April 21, 2008
If he becomes the Democratic Party's nominee for President, Sen. Barack Obama will lose the general election for this reason: When the smiles and platitudes are set aside, Obama's campaign and the philosophy of his cadre amount to one big put-down of America. Anomalous among Western leaders, the president of the United States serves as head of both state and government. Moreover, he is elected directly by the voters, unlike in a parliamentary system whereby a leader attains power through the success of his party. As such, the president represents something very personal to Americans. He is, for four or more years, the personification of their country, embodying the aspirations and goodness of the land that they love. A president may disappoint after assuming office, but America is not in the habit of electing candidates who hold their country in contempt.
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080423/OPINION01/804230306/1007/OPINION
America will be poorer as Obama pursues the wealthier
Sallie James
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Last week's debate between the Democratic presidential candidates proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that voters will face a choice between two starkly different visions in November. Barack Obama made one particularly startling statement that puts him well to the left of the already left-wing Hillary Clinton. In a discussion over whether and how far to increase the capital gains tax, ABC anchor Charles Gibson pointed out to Obama that a 1980s hike in the tax actually saw revenues fall, presumably a worry for a candidate who wants to increase government spending on social programs and "infrastructure" projects. Astonishingly, Obama replied: "I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of fairness." In other words, to Obama, soaking the rich and discouraging investment is worth it for its own sake, even if it can't raise more money. The objective isn't to raise revenues, it's to inflict pain on the relatively well-off.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120888600383035161.html?mod=Best+of+the+Web+Today
The Obama Quarantine
By JAMES TARANTO
April 22, 2008
North Carolina Democrats hit the primary polls in two weeks, and CBS News was to have hosted a debate this Sunday between front-runner Barack Obama and underdog Hillary Clinton. Alas, it was not to be. A press release from the North Carolina Democratic Party says that the party has decided to spend more time with its family: We regret to inform you that the proposed Democratic Presidential Debate scheduled for April 27 has been cancelled due to time constraints and logistical issues associated with such a large, national event. . . . There were also growing concerns about what another debate would do to party unity. CBS News has what almost certainly is the real story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/opinion/23dowd.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
Wilting Over Waffles
By MAUREEN DOWD
April 23, 2008
He’s never going to shake her off. Not all by himself. The very fact that he can’t shake her off has become her best argument against him. “Why can’t he close the deal?” Hillary taunted at a polling place on Tuesday. She’s been running ads about it, suggesting he doesn’t have “what it takes” to run the country. Her message is unapologetically emasculating: If he does not have the gumption to put me in my place, when superdelegates are deserting me, money is drying up, he’s outspending me 2-to-1 on TV ads, my husband’s going crackers and party leaders are sick of me, how can he be trusted to totally obliterate Iran and stop Osama? Now that Hillary has won Pennsylvania, it will take a village to help Obama escape from the suffocating embrace of his rival. Certainly Howard Dean will be of no use steering her to the exit. It’s like Micronesia telling Russia to denuke.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/23/us/politics/23obama.html?hp
Obama Shifting Focus From Clinton to McCain
By JEFF ZELENY
April 23, 2008
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Senator Barack Obama opened the next phase of his presidential campaign here Tuesday evening, seeking to turn his focus away from Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and persuade party leaders that time is running out for Democrats to start defining their Republican opponent. A series of endorsements are scheduled to be announced in the coming days, including superdelegates who intend to pledge their support for Mr. Obama. And more campaign workers in the Chicago headquarters will be dedicated to taking on Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee. Mr. Obama only mentioned Mrs. Clinton by name once in his remarks at a rally here late Tuesday night, when he congratulated her on winning the Pennsylvania primary. He referred to Mr. McCain seven times, a pointed reminder to Democrats of the challenge that lies ahead.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120891044439036617.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
Obama's Media Army
By DOROTHY RABINOWITZ
April 23, 2008
Nothing in the hysteria over last week's Democratic debate – including the unprecedented opprobrium press critics heaped on the ABC moderators – should have come as any surprise. That doesn't make it any less fascinating a guide to current strange notions of what is and is not a substantive issue in a presidential contest, or any less striking an indicator of the delicate treatment Mr. Obama's media following have come to consider his just due. Moderators Charles Gibson's and George Stephanopoulos's offense was to ask questions Mr. Obama didn't want to address. Worse, they'd continued to press them even when the displeased candidate assured them these were old and tired questions.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9761.html
A measure of racism: 15 percent?
By ROGER SIMON
4/21/08 7:25 PM EST
I was talking the other day to a prominent Republican who asked me what I thought John McCain’s strongest issues would be in the general election. Lower taxes and the argument he will be better able to protect America from its enemies, I said. Republicans have a pretty good track record with those two. The Republican shook his head. “You’re missing the most important one,” he said. “Race. McCain runs against Barack Obama and the race vote is worth maybe 15 percent to McCain.” The man I was talking to is not a racist; he was just stating what he believes to be a fact: There is a percentage of the American electorate who will simply not vote for a black person no matter what his qualities or qualifications.
Delegate results could be delayed in Pennsylvania
Apr 21, 2:52 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The wait is almost over for Pennsylvania's Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, but voters may have to wait a little longer to find out who won the most delegates to the party's national convention. As in other Democratic contests, Pennsylvania awards delegates based on the statewide vote and the vote in individual congressional districts. Unlike most states, Pennsylvania has a large number of counties split into multiple congressional districts. That could delay results by a day or more as election officials work to assign votes to the appropriate districts. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton are vying for 158 delegates. Fifty-five will be awarded based on the statewide vote, which should be available Tuesday night. Another 103 delegates will be awarded based on the vote in individual congressional districts. All delegates will be awarded proportionally, as they are in every Democratic contest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/23/AR2008042300068_pf.html
Signs Indicate That Duels May Be Hurting Party
By Jon Cohen and Jennifer Agiesta
Wednesday, April 23, 2008; A09
With Democratic voters falling into generally predictable patterns, there are signs in the Pennsylvania exit poll that the prolonged battle for the Democratic nomination may have negative consequences for the party. There is a growing sense among Democratic voters that Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) are attacking each other unfairly, and majorities of each candidate's supporters said they would be dissatisfied if their top choice did not prevail. Nearly seven in 10 voters said Clinton has attacked Obama unfairly, and half said the same of Obama's campaign against Clinton. Those are the highest numbers saying the candidates have unjustly characterized each other since before Super Tuesday contests on Feb. 5, according to network exit polls conducted with voters as they left polling places.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/22/on-course-for-another-whi_n_97965.html
On Course For Another White Guy Election
Thomas B Edsall
April 22, 2008 10:30 AM
Hillary Clinton's release Monday of her first Osama bin Laden ad sets the stage for a general contest that Republicans could only dream about: an election fought over issues of patriotism, 1960s radicalism, liberal elites, gun control, terrorist threats, intimidation by a black preacher, and a 3AM phone call signaling enemy attack. With the bin Laden spot, Clinton has set the stage for an election in which a crucial voting block will once again be white men, and the issues will be those that tend to push these voters to the right, towards the Republican Party, regardless of which Democrat is the nominee.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9752.html
Suburbs are key to Democratic victory
By REP. RAHM EMANUEL
4/21/08 4:03 PM EST
For months, Washington pundits have attempted to slice and dice the Democratic primary electorate in a futile effort to predict the winner of the Democratic presidential contest. Not surprisingly, important issues such as race, gender and generation have dominated these discussions. All of these factors have played a role in this campaign, but too many political observers have missed the big story in their own backyard. It’s a story about the new role voters in suburban and exurban communities are playing in the Democratic primary and the choices these voters and their neighbors will make this November. Let’s start by looking at the numbers. While overall Democratic primary turnout is up approximately 100 percent this year, Democratic turnout in suburban and exurban counties across America has been truly astonishing. My home state of Illinois provides a good example.
Politicians as Comics: A Sideshow on Pop TV
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY
April 22, 2008
Somewhere in between the parade of busty women in low-cut gold lamé minidresses and contestants spinning the wheel, George Bush made a star turn. “I’m thrilled to be on ‘Deal or No Deal’ with you tonight,” Mr. Bush said from a giant screen in a cameo taped for the Monday episode of one of NBC’s most popular prime-time shows. The president paused a beat. “Come to think of it, I’m thrilled to be anywhere with high ratings these days.” Elitism is to the 2008 campaign as communism was to 1950s politics: a career breaker. And pop TV is the antidote, a free platform to rub shoulders with viewers who only glancingly pay attention to the news. Making nice on a cooking program or game show is the macropopulist equivalent of knocking down pins in a bowling alley in Altoona, Pa., or belting down Crown Royal whiskey in a bar in Crown Point, Ind., only better:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9071E2O6&show_article=1
Bush: Now is not the time to renegotiate or cancel NAFTA
Apr 22 12:46 PM US/Eastern
By BEN FELLER
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - President Bush has replied to criticism from Democratic presidential candidates a