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Clinton camp compares Obama to Ken Starr
First, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) was called a rock star. Now, the Clinton campaign is calling him Ken Starr.
Just two days after Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) scored primary victories in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island, her camp compared the Obama campaign attacks to those made by the famous independent prosecutor toward President Bill Clinton in the 1990s.
Ann Lewis and Howard Wolfson, top aides to Clinton, held a conference call with reporters in which they said that Obama’s calling on the former first lady to release her tax returns was similar to attacks from the GOP that the Clintons have faced before.
“I for one do not believe that imitating Ken Starr is a way to win a Democratic primary for the presidency,” Wolfson said.
Starr is perhaps the most profane comparison the Clinton campaign could make. Clinton has accused him of leading the “vast right-wing conspiracy” that culminated in her husband’s impeachment during his second term as president. Among Clinton supporters, that was seen as an abuse of the Constitution.
Clinton declined to address the charge several hours later, but the Obama campaign promptly reacted.
“It is absurd that after weeks of badgering the media to ‘vet’ Sen. Obama, the Clinton campaign believes that they should be held to an entirely different standard,” said Obama spokesman Bill Burton. “We don’t believe that expecting candidates for the presidency to disclose their tax returns somehow constitutes Ken Starr tactics, but [rather shows] the kind of transparency and accountability that Americans are looking for and that’s been missing in Washington for far too long.”
A spokeswoman at the Pepperdine University School of Law, where Starr is the dean, said he had no comment on the matter.
Lewis said the interest in Clinton’s financial records represented a negative turn in the Obama campaign and a move away from his inspirational themes.
The Clinton campaign maintains that the senator’s tax returns have been part of the public record for years, and she will release her most recent returns around April 15.
“I did not realize that his version of new politics is to [use] some of the same old Republican attacks on Hillary that have failed for years,” Lewis said.
Clinton, during a meeting with military leaders in Washington on Thursday afternoon, wouldn’t elaborate on Wolfson’s comments.
“I’m not going to respond to that,” she said, quickly turning to another questioner.
During the meeting, Clinton also said she would let Democratic leaders in Florida and Michigan decide whether they want to hold new primaries that would abide by the rules laid out by the Democratic National Committee.
She won both contests handily, but Obama wasn’t on the ballot in either state. Both states broke DNC rules by holding their primaries before Feb. 5.
“I’m going to let the leadership of both states see what they think is the best approach,” Clinton said.
— Sam Youngman and Aaron Blake
Obama, Clinton continue record-shattering money race
Democratic rivals Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) continue to battle for bucks in addition to delegates.
Clinton’s campaign announced Thursday that the senator had raised $6 million since the beginning of March, with more than $4 million coming in since Clinton’s big wins Tuesday night.
Hours later, Obama’s campaign announced it had raised a jaw-dropping $55 million in February — $54 million of that for the primaries.
The Clinton campaign raised $35 million in February, a one-month record for her campaign.
As in the delegate race, Obama continues to enjoy a lead over Clinton in fundraising. The Clinton campaign has boasted this week that Clinton beat Obama in Texas and Ohio despite being outspent by a 2-to-1 margin.
Clinton’s camp said its March fundraising was on the strength of 40,000 donors, 30,000 of which are first-time donors.
The Obama campaign said its February haul was a result of 727,972 donors, with 385,101 of those donors giving for the first time. The campaign also said that $45 million of the February total came from online fundraising, and more than 90 percent of the donations were of amounts of $100 or less.
— SY
Rolling Stone endorses Obama
Rolling Stone magazine has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D) for president, and the Illinois senator will appear on the cover of its next issue, March 20, under the headline “A New Hope.”
The endorsement, written by Publisher Jann Wenner, contrasts the two candidates, with Wenner directly criticizing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) for running “the kind of campaign that reminds us of what makes us so discouraged about our politics.”
“Like Abraham Lincoln,” Wenner writes, “Barack Obama challenges America to rise up, to do what so many of us long to do: to summon ‘the better angels of our nature.’ ”
Though Wenner calls Clinton a “capable and personable senator,” he takes her to task for her vote on the Iraq war, her campaign and what he says is a cozy relationship with prescription drug companies.
“Her campaign certainly proved her experience didn’t count for much: She was a bad manager and a bad strategist who naturally and easily engaged in the politics of distraction, trivialization and personal attack,” Wenner writes.
— Chris Good |
