| 9:47 PM: | Hillary for VP or Hillary '12? With Hillary Clinton's impending exit from the race, conventional wisdom has it that she's touting her supposed popular vote advantage to muscle her way onto the Obama ticket. I don't buy it. Patrick Ruffini. | |
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| 9:46 PM: | Five Questions About The End of the Democratic Primaries. Most political observers believe that, for all intents and purposes, the nomination will be decided in Barack Obama's favor this week, within hours or days of the polls closing Tuesday in South Dakota and Montana, the last two states to hold nomination contests. CQ. | |
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| 8:33 PM: | Senator Kennedy: "I feel like a million bucks. I think I'll do that again tomorrow" According to the Associated Press : Dr. Allan Friedman, who performed the surgery at Duke University Medical Center, pronounced the operation a success and said it "accomplished our goals." Daily Kos. | |
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| 8:33 PM: | Latest Delegate Counts. ABC: Obama 2,077, Clinton 1,911. MSNBC: Obama 2,076, Clinton 1,918. AP: Obama 2,074, Clinton 1,917. CNN: Obama 2,072, Clinton 1,916. CBS: Obama 2,072, Clinton 1,913. *Latest total includes delegations from Florida and Michigan. Time. | |
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| 8:01 PM: | Historic primary season comes to an end. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama face off Tuesday in the last contests of the Democratic primary season, bringing an end to a historic race that has produced months of excitement, but still no nominee. CNN. | |
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| 7:31 PM: | Clinton: South Dakota 'will have a big influence' going forward. Clinton aides said they do not expect there to be a Democratic nominee Tuesday evening when the final polls close in the 2008 primary season. CNN. | |
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| 7:30 PM: | Gay marriage ban qualifies for California ballot. California's Secretary of State says an initiative that would again outlaw gay marriage in the state has qualified for the November ballot. AP. | |
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| 7:29 PM: | Clinton message: She'll do what it takes in November. Obama insiders believe Clinton is sending signals she would be willing to join the ticket. CNN. | |
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| 7:29 PM: | What role did race play with white Democrats? As the primaries end, a round table of experts -- Tom Schaller, Ruy Teixeira and Sean Wilentz -- weighs the influence of white racism on the Clinton vs. Obama contest. Salon. | |
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| 7:28 PM: | Facing $4 gasoline, more Americans take mass transit. More Americans are leaving their cars at home and jumping on buses, trains, and trolleys as retail gasoline prices approach $4 per gallon, according to a report released Monday by the American Public Transportation Association. Reuters. | |
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| 7:28 PM: | Sen. Byrd, 90, hospitalized overnight. Sen. Robert Byrd was hospitalized Monday night, a spokesman said. CNN. | |
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| 6:03 PM: | Senate Democrats Reluctant to Push Clinton From Presidential Race. A delicate dance is playing out on Capitol Hill, where every Democrat in Congress is an automatic superdelegate to the presidential nominating convention, but some of them are reluctant to be seen as pushing a colleague out of the race for the White House. CQ. | |
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| 6:02 PM: | Former GOP Staff Member Pleads Guilty to Fraud Charge. The chief of staff to a former senior member of the House Appropriations Committee pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to commit fraud, becoming the latest casualty of the scandal centered on disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Washington Post. | |
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| 6:01 PM: | Holdout Superdelegates. For the roughly 200 uncommitted superdelegates left, Tuesday might be the last day that their votes could tip the scale. NYT. | |
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| 6:01 PM: | McCain a One-Term President? Did the Republican senator consider running on a promise of just four years? NYT. | |
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| 5:35 PM: | Cheney Chides McClellan. Vice President Dick Cheney chided former White House press secretary Scott McClellan over his recent memoir today, arguing that partisan spin in Washington isn’t nearly as bad as it’s been in the past. WSJ. | |
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| 5:34 PM: | South Dakota voters talk issues with Clinton. While pundits pondered the intracacies of how Hillary Clinton might drop out of the presidential race, voters in South Dakota greeted the candidate on Monday in a traditional style by talking about issues that affect their lives. Reuters. | |
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| 5:33 PM: | Superdelegates predict quick primary end. Sen. McCaskill says enough uncommitted superdelegates would announce their support of Obama to ensure his nomination by the end of Tuesday night. Politico. | |
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| 5:10 PM: | Hillary and the City. Does the movie version of Sex and the City owe its success to the failure of Hillary Clinton's campaign? Slate. | |
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| 5:09 PM: | A Long Last Day on the Trail. A tireless campaigner who rarely trips over lines while mixing up and hammering on her well-worn talking points, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s voice gave out and she made a rare gaffe while introducing a local politician at a school in this small city in southeastern South Dakota. WSJ. | |
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| 5:08 PM: | Cheney apologizes to West Virginians for inbreeding joke. Vice President Dick Cheney apologized Monday for what his spokeswoman called "an inappropriate attempt at humor" that implied that inbreeding is common among West Virginians, a remark that elicited outrage from the state's senior senator. CNN. | |
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| 4:54 PM: | Obama and the Clintons: Blood, Sweat and Tears. While Senator Obama tries to reach out, Senator Clinton's spouse continues his rage against the coverage of his wife's campaign. NYT. | |
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| 4:36 PM: | Evening News Summary. NBC reports at least 34 House members plan to endorse Obama by Wednesday. Time. | |
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| 4:36 PM: | Bill's anger, again. Bill catches HuffPo's Mayhill Fowler on a rope line, and tells her what he thinks of Vanity Fair's Todd Purdum: Former President Bill Ben Smith. | |
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| 4:35 PM: | Obama repents for 'Sweetie' Blog: Obama, back in Michigan, gives an interview to Peggy Agar, the TV reporter he patronized a bit on his last trip, talking about jobs and apologizing Ben Smith. | |
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| 4:23 PM: | Doctors say Kennedy was awake during tumor removal. Few things require as much courage as being wide awake and aware, lying perfectly still for hours, while surgeons methodically slice out bits of your brain. AP. | |
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| 4:22 PM: | Clinton prepares for the end. A candidate and a campaign that hate losing face a possible end of the road. But Hillary Clinton’s campaign is not dead. Not quite. Not yet. Politico. | |
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| 4:21 PM: | A New (Possibly Major) Hiccup in Breaking the FEC Impasse. It looked like the FEC nomination logjam was going to end just before the Memorial Day recess, until the nominations got caught up in a larger battle over nominations in the Senate. Election Law. | |
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| 4:20 PM: | Oh No, Mr. Bill! Then again, the strongest argument against adding Hillary to the ticket is the possibility that the Big Dog will lurch off the reservation, as he did, yet again, today. TIME.com: Joe Klein. | |
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| 4:09 PM: | Where They Are Tuesday. Clinton: New York, NY. Obama: St. Paul, MN. McCain: Kenner, LA. The Page. | |
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| 4:08 PM: | Another WA super for Obama. It's a DNC member from Seattle. Ben Smith. | |
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| 4:08 PM: | Yes, It Really Will End Either Tomorrow Or Wednesday. There are some mixed messages today from the Clinton campaign, contradicting several earlier reports that Clinton would probably suspend her run for the White House either tomorrow or Wednesday. Open Left. | |
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| 4:07 PM: | GOP blasts Obama on eve of MN visit. RNC chairman Mike Duncan and Minnesota GOP chair Ron Carey held a conference call with reporters this afternoon to discuss Obama's visit to the state tomorrow -- as well as to argue that McCain will be able to put the state in the GOP column for the first time since 1972. MSNBC. | |
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| 3:55 PM: | McCain and Obama’s Excellent Adventure. The two candidates would be an ideal political pair to tour Iraq, if they could only turn back the clock. Campaign Stops. | |
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| 3:55 PM: | Could the GOP lose another safe congressional seat? It's been a rough year for Republican congressional candidates already, and now there are signs is facing another big loss. Salon. | |
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| 3:55 PM: | Poll: Majority of Americans agree with Obama's Iran approach. A new poll released by Gallup Monday suggests McCain may be out of step with the majority of Americans when it comes to U.S.-Iranian relations. CNN. | |
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| 3:54 PM: | Bill Clinton Rips Vanity Fair Writer. Bill Clinton left no questions today on how he feels about former New York Times reporter Todd Purdum, who penned an unflattering piece on the former president in the current Vanity Fair. Time. | |
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| 3:53 PM: | McCain: 'Never count a Clinton out' Hillary Clinton isn't the only one insisting that she shouldn't be counted out. MSNBC. | |
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| 3:51 PM: | About That Michigan Exit Poll. The exit poll conducted for Michigan's Democratic primary, and more specifically, the way it was used to help allocate Michigan's delegates this past weekend, has been the source of controversy over the last 48 hours. Pollster.com. | |
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| 3:49 PM: | Bill Clinton's critique of the Vanity Fair piece about him starts strong and then collapses. It turns out that Bill Clinton commands talents I never knew he had. We're all familiar with his skills as diplomat, political fixer, campaigner, and foundation builder, but who had an inkling that he possessed the mental dexterity to perform the magic art of press criticism? Slate. | |
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| 3:32 PM: | Obama, Clinton to Address AIPAC Wednesday. Pro-Israel lobbying group has both Democratic candidates scheduled to speak sometime between 8:45 and 10:45 am ET at their D.C. conference. Time. | |
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| 3:32 PM: | My Kind of Republican. A Republican on the transit side of the angels? Apparently so. Yglesias. | |
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| 3:31 PM: | Clinton: "My political obituary has yet to be written" With the clock ticking down toward the last two state contests in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton insisted she was still in the race to win. "My political obituary has yet to be written," she told reporters aboard her campaign plane late Sunday. Reuters. | |
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| 3:29 PM: | McCain's One-Term Pledge. Marc Ambinder reports something that had been a rumor for a while as actual, real-live fact: last year, the McCain campaign seriously considered a pledge that if elected, McCain would only serve one term. McCain himself considered it all the way until the morning of the speech, then decided against it. Redstate. | |
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| 3:29 PM: | The Trouble With Sanctions. "We should privatize the sanctions against Iran by launching a worldwide divestment campaign," John McCain said in his AIPAC speech, "As more people, businesses, pension funds, and financial institutions across the world divest from companies doing business with Iran, the radical elite who run that country will become even more unpopular than they are already." Yglesias. | |
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| 3:29 PM: | Fiorina: Women in Positions of Power Are Treated Differently. The McCain aide and GOP victory chairť says Clinton has faced sexism in the campaign. "I have a lot of sympathy for what she’s gone through. A lot of women recognize she’s been treated differently, whether they’re Democrats or Republicans." Time. | |
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| 3:28 PM: | Superdelegate Swirl. The superdelegate shuffle seems to be in full swing today, with senators meeting on Capitol Hill and several leaders in the states coming out for Senator Barack Obama, along with two for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. NYT. | |
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| 3:27 PM: | Feds to watch for voting rights violations in South Dakota. Federal election monitors are being dispatched to South Dakota to protect Native American voting rights on Tuesday, the final day of primary elections in the Democratic presidential nomination race. CNN. | |
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| 3:27 PM: | McCain to try to claim mantel of change. With voters sour on the status quo, Republican John McCain plans to spend the next five months arguing that he has a history of fighting to reform government and that Democrat Barack Obama talks of change with nothing to show for it. AP. | |
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| 3:27 PM: | Bill Clinton calls Purdum a "scumbag" President Clinton slams Purdum. Politico. | |
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| 3:26 PM: | McCain Praises Hillary. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., offered what seemed to be a fond farewell to rival Hillary Clinton this afternoon at a town hall meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. ABC. | |
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| 3:26 PM: | McCain Praises Hillary. McCain offered what seemed to be a fond farewell to rival Hillary Clinton this afternoon at a town hall meeting in Nashville, Tennessee... ABC. | |
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| 2:47 PM: | Clinton Camp Plays Down Exit Chatter. Matt Phillips reports on the presidential race. While several indicators would suggest that Sen. Hillary Clinton is poised to suspend her campaign this week, aides down-played such talk aboard her campaign plane this afternoon. WSJ. | |
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| 2:46 PM: | Rezko Jury Nears Verdict; Deadlocked on One Count. Chicago Sun-Times: Jurors indicate in a note to the judge that their decision on one count is holding them up. The judge essentially instructed them to keep trying, they returned to closed-door deliberations. Time. | |
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| 2:46 PM: | Superdelegate Meeting At The DSCC. A handful of uncommitted Democratic senators are meeting right now at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in Washington, D.C. Marc Ambinder. | |
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| 2:45 PM: | Is Our Hillary Going To Drop Out Or Not? Someone Find Out! Can Obama do it? Can Hillary force herself to lose? Every reporter in the country is scanning e-mails, harassing sources, divining from "expense reports," following travel schedules, monitoring clandestine superdelegate meetings, et cetera et cetera and so forth. Wonkette. | |
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| 2:44 PM: | Ad Wars: Bush Leaves Voters in the Dust. Republicans are hoping that once Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) becomes their party's official presidential nominee this fall, voters' negative impression of President Bush in particular and his party more generally will begin to fade. Washington Post. | |
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| 2:23 PM: | Clyburn endorsing Obama. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn is endorsing Barack Obama for president. AP. | |
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| 1:32 PM: | Obama's delegate roundup. Barack Obama's campaign has reportedly set a goal of getting enough superdelegates to endorse him during the day Tuesday to make a victory speech possible for Tuesday night. Salon. | |
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| 1:32 PM: | Michelle Obama stumps in Montana. On her first of two stops in the Treasure State today, Michelle Obama thanked roughly 400 volunteers here this morning and told them that "the real work begins after Tuesday, and it's going to be fun." MSNBC. | |
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| 1:31 PM: | Another Obama Super D. Florida State Party Secretary Janee Murphy, a Super D, endorsed Barack Obama today. Expect more... "Drip, drip," as one Obama insider said. Natl Journal. | |
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| 1:31 PM: | Clinton rejects concession buzz. A Clinton spokesman is pushing back on the notion of a concession soon. Ben Smith. | |
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| 1:30 PM: | More Super Endorsements. Obama won the endorsements of three super delegates who, per the newly-minted DNC ruling, have one-half vote each. Time. | |
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| 1:29 PM: | Obama Rounding Up Superdelegates. Sen. Barack Obama "worked furiously Monday to win over enough superdelegates to clinch the nomination with the final primaries Tuesday," the AP reports. Political Wire. | |
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| 1:28 PM: | Obama camp responds to McCain speech. The Obama campaign has two questions for McCain: 1) how will his foreign policy be different from George Bush's, and 2) if it is not different, why should anyone expect better results than Bush has achieved? MSNBC. | |
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| 1:28 PM: | Nader Appeals Hawaii Decision to 9th circuit. Ralph Nader filed a notice of appeal in his federal lawsuit against Hawaii ballot access law. Ballot Access. | |
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| 1:27 PM: | Graves unleashes early attack ads. It's only June, but a full-fledged ad war is going on in Missouri, where Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) is locked in a competitive race against forme The Crypt. | |
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| 1:26 PM: | Journalist defends article slamming Bill Clinton. The Vanity Fair journalist who infuriated the Clinton campaign over the weekend with an explosive article that questions former President Bill Clinton's business dealings and behavior since leaving the White House strongly defended his reporting Monday. CNN. | |
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| 1:04 PM: | Exclusive: McCain Almost Took "One-Term" Pledge. When he formally announced his presidential candidacy last year, Sen. John McCain was inches away from making an unprecedented pledge: if he were elected, he would serve only one term as president. Marc Ambinder. | |
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| 12:42 PM: | Where They Are Monday. Clinton: Rapid City, Yankton, Sioux Falls, SD. Obama: Troy, MI McCain: Washington, DC; Nashville, TN. Time. | |
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| 12:42 PM: | Obama Tries to Close It Out Tuesday. Uncommitted super Rep. Altmire says Obama is courting supers to endorse him during the day Tuesday so he’ll have enough to declare victory that evening. Time. | |
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| 12:41 PM: | In critical February period, Obama outspent Clinton 3-to-1 on ads. Barack Obama’s almost insurmountable lead in the race for the Democratic party presidential nomination is mainly the result of a two-week period in February when he outspent rival Hillary Clinton 3-to-1 on advertising while winning nine straight state races, according to a new analysis released Monday. Reuters. | |
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| 12:40 PM: | Aides Do Not Believe That Clinton Will Drop Out Tomorrow Night. Senior staffers swear that Clinton has not told them she will drop out and that she has not hinted to them that she will drop out. Marc Ambinder. | |
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| 12:39 PM: | Obama Online Ads Try to Get Out The Vote in South Dakota. Check out the find-your-polling-place ads that Barack Obama is running in advance of tomorrow’s South Dakota primary. e.politics. | |
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| 12:25 PM: | Obama Camp Hits Back, Again. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Denis McDonough, Obama's senior foreign policy adviser, held a conference call with reporters to respond to the remarks made this morning by John McCain to AIPAC. Time. | |
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| 12:25 PM: | Is the Fat Lady Clearing Her Throat? Tom Edsall says it looks like it's over: Hillary Clinton has summoned top donors and backers to attend her speech tomorrow night in an unusual move that is being widely interpreted to mean she plans to suspend her campaign. Time. | |
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| 11:41 AM: | GOP unwise to call Obama inexperienced. In an Ideas piece, South says in comparison to Bush, Obama "looks like a veritable Gulliver." Politico. | |
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| 11:39 AM: | How Reagan's pragmatism got lost. Tim Naftali and Sean Wilentz debate The Age of Reagan... Slate. | |
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| 10:58 AM: | Bill Clinton's Nixon moment? "I want to say also that this may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind." Scripting News. | |
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| 10:57 AM: | Why not let Clinton keep her four Michigan delegates? Hillary Clinton's supporters are arguing vehemently against one specific part of the deal reached to seat Michigan's delegation. Salon. | |
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| 10:57 AM: | McCain hits Obama on Iraq. In speech to AIPAC, McCain attacks Obama for, he said, giving up on Iraq. Politico. | |
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| 10:57 AM: | Clinton Aides: Tomorrow Night's Speech Isn't Concession. Senior Clinton campaign aides privy to the construction of tomorrow night's election night celebration in New York insist that Sen. Clinton will not use the occasion to drop out of the race. Marc Ambinder. | |
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| 9:56 AM: | South Carolina's Sanford dodges vice presidential talk. South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's name continues to be floated as a potential running mate for John McCain — but he' still not dropping any hints that he wants the job... CNN. | |
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| 9:55 AM: | Obama responds to McCain: "A Dangerous And Failed Foreign Policy" Obama campaign released this statement responding to John McCain 's morning remarks to AIPAC: "John McCain stubbornly insists on continuing a dangerous and failed foreign policy that has clearly made the United States and Israel less secure. Here are the results of the policies that John McCain has supported, and would continue... Natl Journal. | |
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| 9:53 AM: | Why is White House fanning the McClellan flames? I've been wondering why the White House seems happy to fan the McClellan flames -- and presumably the book sales. Time. | |
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| 9:52 AM: | McCain paints Obama as naive about Middle East. Sen. John McCain Monday called for tougher worldwide pressure on Iran and painted his potential rival Sen. Barack Obama as naive about the Middle East. CNN. | |
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| 9:51 AM: | More Clinton Clues. Campaign staffers and former campaign staffers are being urged by the Clinton campaign's finance department to turn in their outstanding expense receipts by the end of the week... Marc Ambinder. | |
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| 9:51 AM: | Obama to Get Remaining Senate Endorsements. "Most of the seventeen Democratic senators who have remained uncommitted throughout the primaries will endorse Barack Obama for president this week," CNN has learned. Sources say the senators "will wait until after the South Dakota and Montana primaries to announce their support for Obama." Political Wire. | |
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| 8:07 AM: | McCain calls for divestment campaign against Iran. The world should launch a divestment campaign against Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions and reduce potential threats to Israel's security, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Monday. Reuters. | |
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| 8:06 AM: | Campaigns spend $200 mil on TV ads. The Democratic and Republican presidential candidates this cycle have spent almost $200 million on TV ads... MSNBC. | |
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| 7:49 AM: | A sign Hillary will drop out tomorrow? The Clinton campaign has announced that Hillary will hold her Election Night celebration tomorrow night in New York City, at the Baruch College Athletic & Recreation Center.... MSNBC. | |
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| 7:48 AM: | White House has "serious concerns" about climate bill. Legislation to control climate change that the Senate will consider this week could cut U.S. economic growth by as much as 7 percent in 2050 and raise gasoline prices by as much as 53 cents a gallon by 2030, a White House official said on Monday. Reuters. | |
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| 6:55 AM: | Clinton's Popular Vote Claim Stretches the Truth. Hillary's campaign is "launching a new television ad Monday that highlights her claim she is beating Barack Obama in the popular vote," according to CNN . The only problem is that it's not true... Political Insider. | |
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| 5:46 AM: | McCain's Telling TV Campaign. WSJ: The Arizonan’s TV ads "says a lot about how he sees the general-election battle ahead. The message is economics and the state that has seen the most spending on ads so far is Ohio." Time. | |
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| 5:46 AM: | Clinton says she's not ready for 'political obituary' Hillary Clinton said she will take the race for the Democratic presidential nomination "a day at a time" and is reviewing all options as she moves forward in her campaign. CNN. | |
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| 5:14 AM: | McAuliffe: Obama has Latino 'problem' Clinton uses P.R. results to argue that Obama has a problem with Hispanic voters. Politico. | |
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| 5:13 AM: | McCain & Ron Paul at state & local GOP conventions. This weekend, there were Republican conventions in 8 states. According to Jonathan Martin , Ron Paul supporters are "blitz"ing these conventions... Redstate. | |
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| 5:10 AM: | Obama general: McCain Weak on National Security. The Obama-backing general tells The Washington Times "it doesn’t take very long to uncover national security issues that McCain is weak on." Time. | |
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| 5:09 AM: | McCain Slams Obama on Iran, Iraq in AIPAC Speech. McCain says "It's worth recalling that America's progress in Iraq is the direct result of the new strategy that Senator Obama opposed. It was the strategy he predicted would fail, when..." Time. | |
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| 5:09 AM: | Clinton is shedding staff. Members of her advance staff receive summons from HQ to head for NYC and learn their roles are ending. Politico. | |
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| 5:09 AM: | Matt Drudge is unreliable ally for GOP. He’s emerged as an unreliable ally for the GOP, while trumpeting Obama’s victories and overlooking his scandals. Politico. | |
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| 5:06 AM: | The GOP strategy of silence. The looming question is: whether, when and how McCain and the GOP use the Wright issue. Politico. | |
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| 5:06 AM: | Mark Penn Reflects. "I think that we - you know, with the benefit of hindsight, we might have done things somewhat differently. I’ll spend some time analysing that." Time. | |
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| 5:05 AM: | Monday Superdelegate count: Obama 1, Clinton 0. Obama starts the week with a nod from Virginia DNC member Jerome Wiley Segovia. Today’s Tally: Obama 1, Clinton 0 Time. | |
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| 5:05 AM: | Kennedy to undergo brain surgery this morning. Kennedy will have surgery followed by radiation and chemotherapy to treat cancerous brain tumor. The Crypt. | |
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| 5:04 AM: | What will Clinton do now? Clinton tells reporters on her plane, "One thing about superdelegates is that they can change their minds." Earlier interviews with the Washington Post and New York Times offer clues... Time. | |
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