Senator Barack Obama received a rare endorsement from Cuba’s former leader and American arch nemesis Fidel Castro saying the Illinois Senator is “the most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency”. Castro did chastize the candidate for his promise to continue the US trade embargo against Cuba but noted “Were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries an enormous favor, I have therefore no reservations about criticizing him.”
“It is clear from the context that Hillary was invoking a familiar political circumstance in order to support her decision to stay in the race through June. I have heard her make this reference before, also citing her husband’s 1992 race, both of which were hard fought through June,” he said in a statement released by the campaign. “I understand how highly charged the atmosphere is, but I think it is a mistake for people to take offense.”
From the Washington Post Senator Obama made a classic performance mistake, not knowing where you are:
How’s it going, Sunshine? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you everybody. It’s good to be in Sunshine!” Obama declared on taking the stage this afternoon for a rally at the BankAtlantic Arena in Broward County, Fla., just west of Ft. Lauderdale.
But then he said it again, and again — “When we are unified sunshine, nobody can stop us!” — and it became clear: Obama thought he was in Sunshine, Fla. But he was not. He was in Sunrise, the name given to this particular swath of South Florida palm trees, bungalows and outlet stores.
If the 16,000 in attendance noticed, they didn’t make it known. There was no dropoff in applause as Obama experienced recently when he opened a speech in Sioux Falls, S.D. by declaring, “Thank you, Sioux City!” before realizing that he had named the Iowa city by mistake. Perhaps the crowd here also thought the “Sunshine” might be a figurative reference, or perhaps there is simply less local possessiveness when it comes to a Sun Belt exurb with vaguely defined borders and an even more vaguely defined identity, especially given that many of those in attendance came from elsewhere in the county.
Reversing course Cindy McCain has released her 2006 tax returns. They show she made over $6 Million in 2006 and paid $1.6 Million in taxes. Mrs. McCain filed an extension for 2007 but the campaign says she will release those once they are filed.
Previously the McCain’s said she would not release tax or income information.
Senator Clinton is taking some heat comments made to the Argus Leader editorial board in which she noted calls for her to drop out before June went against historic trends noting her husband had not wrapped up the nomination before then and Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June.
My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it.”
Sen. Obama statement on comment:
“Senator Clinton’s statement before the Argus Leader editorial board was unfortunate and has no place in this campaign,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton.
Clinton official statement:
“She was simply referencing her husband in 1992 and Bobby Kennedy in 1968 as historic examples of the nominating process going well into the summer. Any reading into beyond that would be inaccurate and outrageous.”
In the past two presidential cycles, the Republican national voter file allowed them to more efficiently locate, communicate with and galvanize voters. Democrats, by comparison, relied on a disjointed compilation of national and state party data files that varied widely in quality. To boot, said one DNC analyst, many of their files would vanish after each election year.
For Democrats, the shift to one “solid voter file” is “transformative,” said Ben Self, the DNC’s director of technology.
“Whether it is microtargeting, regular targeting, neighbor-to-neighbor knocking on doors, or volunteers making calls,” Self said, “all these vital campaign activities are built on a national voter file and were not available in 2000.”
Or in 2004, when Republicans took full advantage of their advances in technology.
For all the talk this campaign season about the use of the Internet, which is an important component don’t get me wrong, I have to say this news alone is the most important of technology and its potential impact this season. The Internet has been great for Democrats in both raising money and collecting the data needed to populate the above mentioned list. Until now that was pretty much useless in comparison to the Republicans get-out-the-vote-machine.
As nice as blogs and tweets and YouTube videos are, they are nothing if voters don’t go to the polls come election day.
Suzanne Malveaux is reporting that talks are taking place between the Clinton/Obama camp with three options being looked at.
1) Obama could ignore Clinton and her supporters with no VP slot offer. The argument is if he does woman’s groups could possibly withhold support and Clinton supporters could feel rejected.
2) Obama could publicly offer Clinton VP slot knowing she would reject it.
This option is reportedly rejected because the Obama camp doesn’t trust Clinton will actually reject it if made.
3) Both candidates could get into a room and work out some kind of deal.
The Associated Press reports that former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson has been asked by Senator Obama to begin vetting candidates for the Vice Presidency spot on his ticket. The report also states the Senator denies that the search has begun, saying Johnson is not on the payroll or has any official role, but did not outright deny that Johnson was asked to begin a search. Democratic officials on anonymity are pushing the story.
Johnson conducted similar searches for John Kerry in 2004 and Walter Mondale in 1984. This report follows an earlier one quoting an unnamed Obama official who said supporters of Senator Clinton were pushing hard for her place on the ticket.
Update: The Huckabee’s Mike Huckabee made it awfully clear recently that he would like to be John McCain’s running mate, yet in the flurry of interest over the Senator’s weekend meetings with potential VP candidates, his name is noticeably absent to the list. (Hat tip to Leslie Carbone who noted the absence on twitter.
Should we read into his absence that he isn’t in the top three or is something else going on?
I am late to the game with this one but if you haven’t seen it, John McCain will be meeting with three highly rumored potential VP candidates this Memorial Day weekend. They are Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Florida Governor Charlie Christ and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
All three bring strengths and weaknesses but imho all three would be pretty darn good picks.
Meanwhile check out a current state of McCain segment on NPR.
Senator Barack Obama received a rare endorsement from Cuba’s former leader and American arch nemesis Fidel Castro saying the Illinois Senator is “the most progressive candidate to the U.S. presidency”. Castro did chastize the candidate for his promise to continue the US trade embargo against Cuba but noted “Were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries an enormous favor, I have therefore no reservations about criticizing him.”
The 
