Friday, February 29, 2008

BARACK OBAMA, HILLARY CLINTON

Team Hillary: Canadian Story, If True, Is 'Major Development'

Highlights from the Clinton campaign’s conference call with Chief Strategist, Mark Penn, and Communications Director, Howard Wolfson:

Penn argues that Hillary is the stronger one when Republicans "play the national security card, as they have been known to do."

Wolfson: "They are pouring resources into Ohio and Texas, they know how important these states are. If they are unable to win, it sends a clear signal that Democrats want this campaign to continue, and that there is some concern and disatisfaction with Senator Obama.... Obama has every advantage heading into Texas and Ohio... if he cannot win all four states, it may indicate what some have called 'buyer's remorse.'"

"I frankly have found the Obama campaign's responses to this less than definitive. Has Austan Goolsbee had any contact with anyone in the Canadian government, in the Canadian emabssy, or tried to send a message to individuals there to indicate that Senator Obama's criticism of NAFTA was not sincere? It's a simple question."

"If the Canadian reporting is true, it is a major development in this campaign. He is saying one thing and doing another."

They're doing the Q and A now.

Wolfson tears into the press for not asking sufficient questions about Obama's ties about Rezko: "If the shoe were on the other foot, I would be answering them, to a lot of people who don't take 'no comment' for an answer.... Legal documents suggest that Obama received contributions through straw donors. Has any investigative process gone through the Obama campaign, to determine how many straw donors? We went through this and gave back a lot of contributions. Was any due diligence done to determine if there were others? Has anyone asked? Lots of questions, no answers. Rezko is going to trial for bribery, extortion, and kickbacks, the most unsavory of crimes involving public officials."

02/29 12:21 PMShare