July 24, 2008
Election 2008: Hillary Clinton in the news
Coverage: Eye on the White House
Op-ed: For women, a lesson in unity from Seneca Falls
This weekend, those of us who are united in the struggle for justice and opportunity for women will celebrate a happy anniversary: the Seneca Falls convention and the inauguration of the women's rights movement in America.
ON THE TRAIL
Former President Bill Clinton said yesterday he is eager to campaign for Barack Obama whenever the Democrat needs him, but has not given any thought to whether he wants to speak at the party convention in Denver next month. "I told him that whenever he wanted me to do it, I was ready, and so it's basically on their timetable," Clinton said. "He's got a lot of things to do between now and the convention, of which this is simply one, so I'll do whatever I'm asked to do, whenever I can do it." Relations between Clinton and Obama have only just begun to thaw since Obama defeated the former president's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the bruising Democratic primary that ended last month. Just weeks ago, Obama called the former president to ask for his help in winning the White House. Clinton's comments came at a news conference for his foundation's work.
Push to move votes to weekends an uphill effort
WASHINGTON - Rep. Steve Israel had just one question for tourists and lawmakers on Capitol Hill yesterday: Why do we vote on Tuesday?
Can Obama keep up fundraising without public funds?
WASHINGTON - Though he's raking in the cash so far, Barack Obama's decision to forgo public funds for the fall campaign means he must keep up his torrid pace - a tall order that will tax his time, test his Internet support and require the help of Democratic donors who once wished for his defeat.
Clinton asks for added meeting on flood plain maps
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to conduct an additional public meeting in barrier-beach communities on new flood maps in Nassau County, on top of three open houses the agency already scheduled elsewhere.
Punchlines
Jay Leno, "The Tonight Show": "President Bush signed a bill giving phone companies immunity for letting the government spy on its customers without a warrant. Isn't that unbelievable? President Bush said 9/11 changed everything. And you know, he's right, because violating the Constitution and breaking the law used to mean jail time."
'Those 'gotcha!' moments for Generation Facebook
Imagine if the current crop of public figures had grown up during the Facebook era. We might have photos of John McCain in Florida slurping body shots off his stripper girlfriend. Barack Obama rolling a joint on a beach in Hawaii. George W. Bush passed out at a Yale frat party, 40-ounce beer bottles duct-taped to his hands. Hillary Rodham Clinton at a Wellesley peace rally, locking lips with her husband's future secretary of Labor, Robert Reich.
Simon says he has shot at winning Skelos' Senate seat
The jackpot prize for the political lottery in which Roy D. Simon Jr. holds a ticket surged three weeks ago when his electoral opponent Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre) became Senate majority leader.
McCain, Obama battle to court Hispanic voters
ORLANDO, Fla. - Like eager but awkward suitors, Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain are working hard and sometimes fumbling while courting Hispanic voters who could swing November's presidential election.
Trash-hungry public mad at Christie for being mad
My, my . . . so many wronged wives in the headlines!
Nation has become polarized, Bill Clinton warns
PHILADELPHIA - Former President Bill Clinton warned yesterday that the country is becoming increasingly polarized despite the historic nature of the Democratic primary.
FEMA to return hurricane supplies to LI
Yielding to pressure from Long Island officials and lawmakers, the federal government is returning stockpiles of hurricane emergency supplies to Nassau and Suffolk counties after a year's absence.
Party unity: The memory is the first thing to go
Party unity means never having to say you're sorry - or that you even remember what you might have been sorry about.
Obama supporters shrug off Jesse Jackson comments
Jesse Jackson's televised comments about Barack Obama's anatomy elicited a series of shrugs from the presidential candidate's supporters at a midtown fundraiser yesterday.
Clinton and Obama expand bases for support and money
Barack Obama's campaign yesterday made a direct appeal to women who supported his chief Democratic rival, calling Hillary Rodham Clinton "my partner" and "my friend" at a breakfast fundraiser in Manhattan.
Punchlines
Conan O'Brien, "Late Night with Conan O'Brien": "The Democratic Convention is being held at a 20,000- seat arena in Denver, but Barack Obama has decided to give his acceptance speech at Denver's 80,000-seat football stadium. Meanwhile, Ralph Nader will be giving his acceptance speech at a Foot Locker."
Clinton votes against warrantless wiretapping bill
WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has been busily patching her frayed relationship with Barack Obama, broke with her former rival yesterday by voting against the warrantless wiretapping bill.
Senate Dems not backing Obama on wiretapping bill
Sen. Charles Schumer and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are bucking their party's presidential nominee Barack Obama by opposing a White House-backed warrantless wiretapping bill expected to be voted on today.
Bill Clinton tees off at Suozzi's Glen Cove fundraiser
Bill Clinton paid a visit to Glen Cove yesterday and between the hundreds of handshakes and photo ops, the former president managed to fit in 18 holes of golf.
Obama, Clinton to help each other during fundraisers
BUTTE, Mont. - Now that they're allies, Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will help each other raise money in a series of fundraisers in New York this week.
Rick Brand: Schneiderman's defection weakens limping Suffolk GOP
Republican Suffolk Legis. Jay Schneiderman celebrated the Fourth of July in his own way Friday, filling out a new voter registration form to change parties and become a member of the Independence Party.
9-11 Memorial
Thirteen days after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Yankee Stadium was site of an inter- faith prayer service and group hug featuring prominent politicians, religious leaders and a crowd of approximately 50,000. Cardinal Edward Egan, Imam Izak-El M. Pasha, Rabbi Arthur Schneier and the Rev. Calvin O. Butts were in attendance along with former President Bill Clinton, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles Schumer, Gov. George Pataki and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Saul Friedman: The spirit of America's independence lives on today
We have a new reason to celebrate this Independence Day.
Republic Airport gets $3.3M more to move taxiway
Republic Airport has received an additional $3.3 million from the federal government to pay for its ongoing project to relocate one of the taxiways at the general aviation facility in East Farmingdale.
Snooping into private passport files found widespread
WASHINGTON - Government workers repeatedly snooped without authorization into the electronic passport records of entertainers, athletes and other high-profile Americans, a State Department audit has found. One celebrity's records were breached 356 times by more than six dozen people.
Bill Clinton among those at Suozzi golf fundraiser
Fresh off his wife's presidential run, former President Bill Clinton is due to tee off Monday on Long Island for 18 holes at the annual golf fundraiser of Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi - who was a fervent backer of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Punchlines
Stephen Colbert, "The Colbert Report," on the Supreme Court's decision overturning Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns: "Writing for the majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said, 'It is not the role of this court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct.' He is right. Killing the Constitution is the president's job. The court's job is to overturn elections."
Mortgage broker pleads guilty to scheme
Jacob Milton, a Queens mortgage broker at the center of a scandal involving identity theft and phony mortgages, has pleaded guilty to grand larceny and scheme to defraud.
ON THE TRAIL
When it comes to immigration, Barack Obama and John McCain generally agree. It's just that they don't want to say so. Instead, the White House rivals accuse one another of flinching when it mattered most, during and after last year's Senate debate on a bill that would have given millions of illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. McCain "was a champion of comprehensive reform," Obama said Saturday before the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. "But when he was running for his party's nomination, he walked away from that commitment and he's said he wouldn't even support his own legislation if it came up for a vote." McCain had spoken earlier in the day to that group, and his campaign countered his rival's charge. "Obama put politics first and supported ... efforts to kill the immigration reform compromise last year," it said in a written rebuttal. If the disagreement seems forced, the motives behind it are straightforward. The issue is important to Hispanics, a large minority of the electorate who may hold the balance of power in potential battlegrounds Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico as well as Florida. Obama is out to win as many of the 75 percent of Democratic primary voters who chose Hillary Rodham Clinton over him, and attract Latino voters who went for President George W. Bush in 2004. As a Republican, McCain can't afford conservatives who view immigration legislation as amnesty sit out the election. But he also can't allow his share of the Hispanic vote to recede to pre-Bush levels. Based on McCain's words and Obama's voting record, there is truth in both sides, though the two supported the bill with provisions to secure borders, crack down on those who hire illegal immigrants, expand guest worker programs and provide a path to citizenship for millions in the country illegally.
Obama advises Bill Clinton on his role in campaign
WASHINGTON - Look who's finally talking.
State pols work on expanding power base
Upon winning a top political post, you start taking for granted your base - the people who put you there.
Pro-Clinton vandals disparage Obama, McCain in Fla.
ORLANDO, Fla. - Police yesterday were investigating vandals' spray-painting of dozens of city vehicles here, some with disparaging messages about the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
Saul Friedman: Saving Medicare from a Republican death sentence
Reader Jack Wajda, 69, of Orlando, a retired AT&T executive and financial planner, identifies the single greatest problem with the American health-care system as well as anyone. He writes: "To allow private for-profit insurance companies to decide whether and what type of care we receive is incomprehensible to me."
ON THE TRAIL
A Democratic National Convention delegate pledged to Hillary Rodham Clinton says she hopes to fight off an attempt by Wisconsin Democrats to take away her credentials because of her past statement that she would vote for John McCain if Clinton wasn't the nominee. Debra Bartoshevich, a 41-year-old registered nurse, declined to comment on her previous comment, quoted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that she would vote for the Republican McCain in November if the Democratic Party nominated Barack Obama for president. At its convention on June 13, the state convention approved a resolution to challenge Bartoshevich's status as a delegate to the Democratic convention in Denver in August, saying she had violated party rules by expressing support for the presumptive nominee of the opposing party.
Long Island's Democratic operatives unite for Obama
The unity displayed Friday between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was echoed - at least for the moment - by Democratic operatives on Long Island.
Resentment simmers in Obama, Clinton camps
UNITY, N.H. - The name of the town was Unity, not Warmth.
Clinton urges support for Obama at Washington fundraiser
WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton gave Barack Obama the key to her campaign war chest last night - but it remains to be seen if her top fundraisers will unlock their checkbooks for her former rival.
Obama tackles Clinton campaign donors' hurt feelings
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama faces a tough crowd as he attempts to soothe the bruised feelings of several dozen of Hillary Rodham Clinton's top campaign donors in Washington tonight.
Punchlines
Jay Leno, "The Tonight Show": "President Bush went to Iowa today. ... Of course, people from Iowa were a little confused. They weren't sure which disaster President Bush was talking about - the floods or his presidency."
Standing ovation for Clinton's return to Washington
Hillary Rodham Clinton's staff used to obsess over the selection of power ballads and you-go-girl anthems at the candidate's rallies, but she faced a different kind of music yesterday on Capitol Hill.
ON THE TRAIL
Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton plan to campaign together Friday in the small New Hampshire town of Unity, their first joint appearance meant to ease tensions over the closely fought Democratic primary. New Hampshire is critical battleground state in November. George W. Bush won the state in 2000, but Democrat John Kerry narrowly captured it in 2004. The state also has one of the most competitive Senate races this year, with former Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen looking to oust GOP Sen. John Sununu.The New Hampshire rally will come a day after Obama and Clinton meet Thursday at a Washington hotel with former Clinton donors. Clinton will introduce Obama to her financial backers, who have been slow to embrace her one-time opponent. Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee said she will pitch to her supporters that they should support Obama "with everything we still need to accomplish and with the stakes as high as they are."
Unfetter women's intellect on campaign trail
I've got whiplash. That's how quickly the national discussion of women's leadership has changed from one of the merits of an accomplished senator turned potential first female president to the clothes of the potential first ladies.
Clinton could use some of Obama's spare change
If Sen. Barack Obama is an agent for change, his rivals old and new might want to ask him to spare some.
WORLD & NATION UPDATE: AT HOME
Raging Midwest floodwaters that swallowed crops and sent corn and soybean prices soaring are about to give consumers more grief at the grocery store. In the latest bout of food inflation, beef, pork, poultry and even eggs, cheese and milk are expected to get more expensive as livestock owners go out of business or are forced to slaughter more cattle, hogs, turkeys and chickens to cope with rocketing costs for corn-based animal feed. The floods engulfed an estimated 2 million or more acres of corn and soybean fields in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois and other key growing states, sending world grain prices skyward on fears of a substantially smaller corn crop. The government will give a partial idea of how many corn acres were lost before the end of the month, but experts say the trickle-down effect could be more dramatic later this year, affecting everything from Thanksgiving turkeys to Christmas hams.
Fighting Mother Nature
The haunting televised images of flooding in the Midwest remind us once again that it's not wise to mess with Mother Nature. That lesson will be preoccupying us on Long Island in the months ahead, as we grapple with the question of how best to preserve the shoreline that brings us so much beauty and helps give us economic life.
Mark Herrmann: EX-QB McPherson calls signals on social issues
Don McPherson felt left out. All through the Democratic primary season, pollsters were asking black women if they felt conflicted about the choice between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, leaving this former quarterback on the sideline.
Report: Plum Island lab least costly site for leak risk
A Department of Homeland Security analysis of potential locations for a laboratory to replace the Plum Island Animal Disease Center says the cost of escaping pathogens to the national economy would be greater at five mainland sites than a leak from a new facility on Plum Island.
Obama and Clinton plan first rally together
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton will hold their first joint public rally next Friday - a day after the former rivals are due to appear at a Washington fundraiser.
ON THE TRAIL
Democrat Barack Obama raised $22 million in May for his presidential campaign, his weakest fundraising month this year, and ended the month with $43 million cash on hand, the campaign reported Friday. Though Obama has been the fundraising leader in the presidential race, his May totals are just slightly above Republican rival John McCain's fundraising for the month. Overall, Obama has raised more than $287 million during the past 17 months, while McCain has raised a total of $115 million. Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, ended May with a $22.5 million debt and $3.4 million in hand.
Saul Friedman: Grey matters: Age as a factor in the election
In this most unusual presidential campaign, like it or not, voters have had to deal with the issues of race and gender.
Complaint about doctor languishes in state bureaucracy
Raymond Bookstaver expected a prompt response in July 2005 when he filed a complaint against Dr. Harvey Finkelstein, the Plainview physician who authorities say reused syringes and put patients at risk of disease. He says he contracted hepatitis C in Finkelstein's office and is suing the doctor.
Obama talks terrorism, meets with security advisers
WASHINGTON - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said yesterday he would bring Osama bin Laden to justice in a way that wouldn't allow the terrorist mastermind to become a martyr - but he may be killed if the U.S. government finds him.
Colleagues, politicians attend Tim Russert's funeral
WASHINGTON - Luke Russert has his father's sense of mischief.
Michelle Obama fights a bad rap and wows 'The View'
Unpatriotic - as some critics would portray Michelle Obama? Not on yesterday's "The View," which was something of a coming-out party for the wife of the presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama.
Obama, Clinton to join forces at fundraiser
The Barack and Hillary Reunion Tour has booked its first gig.
Developments on the campaign trial
Al Gore announced his endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday and promised to help the Democrat achieve what eluded him - the presidency. In a letter to be e-mailed to Obama supporters, the former vice president and Nobel Prize winner wrote, "From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected president of the United States." In 2000, Gore won the popular vote but lost the disputed 2000 election to George W. Bush.
Les Payne: Obama as a great hope, no matter his color
The election of Barack Obama as president would no more end the racial divide in America than the fielding of Jackie Robinson as a Brooklyn Dodger did back in 1947.
Ellis Henican: Youth and old age are delicate issues for candidates
Is it prejudiced to vote against a candidate because of his age?
McCain expects to woo Clinton supporters in New York
Suddenly it feels early again, like the start of a brand new season. The one-on-one presidential matchup between John McCain and Barack Obama has allowed their rival teams to speak as if it were spring training and to crow that yes, they are set to go all the way this year.
Obama resigns from Chicago church
ABERDEEN, S.D. - Barack Obama has quit the Chicago church he attended for two decades - making a final break after inflammatory remarks by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. and a second minister shook his campaign.
Clinton, Obama pay tributes to servicemen, women
PONCE, Puerto Rico - Hillary Rodham Clinton ended a three-day campaign swing across Puerto Rico like many Americans mark Memorial Day - with family and friends and a salute to the sacrifices of military men and women.
Obama victory may assure political post for Cooper
When Suffolk Legis. Jon Cooper publicly backed Sen. Barack Obama's Democratic presidential campaign early last year, he received a phone call from a member of the Long Island Congressional delegation who backs Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Clinton defends decision to stay in race
Hillary Rodham Clinton, criticized for a reference to the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, said in a New York Daily News commentary she is still campaigning for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination because she believes she is the strongest candidate.
Obama fills in for Kennedy at Wesleyan graduation
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. - Filling in for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and tying himself to the family's legacy, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama urged college graduates yesterday to "make us believe again" by dedicating themselves to public service.
Casting backward glances can throw you off balance
Looking backward for clues to the future has its limits.
Independents are pivotal to both McCain, Obama
WASHINGTON - In recent weeks, John McCain has talked of fixing Washington with openness, accountability and bipartisan problem-solving, while ripping Barack Obama as partisan and a captive of special interests who betrays "inexperience and reckless judgment."
ON THE TRAIL
John McCain and his weekend guests - about two dozen friends and colleagues - lunched near his Arizona vacation home yesterday. With a number of potential vice presidential choices gathered at his home for the weekend, including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, McCain has denied the weekend hosting at his Page Springs ranch includes any running mate vetting.
After Kennedy comment, many seem over the Hill
Hillary Rodham Clinton's bizarre reference to Robert F. Kennedy's assassination Friday came at the worst possible time - a moment when many in her campaign were angling for a graceful exit and the candidate herself was plotting a final push to win the overall popular vote.
ON THE TRAIL
Cindy McCain has released her 2006 tax returns, showing total income of more than $6 million. The wife of Republican presidential candidate John McCain paid more than $1.7 million in taxes. McCain's campaign said she had received an extension on her 2007 tax returns and planned to make those public when they are filed. Under a prenuptial agreement, the McCains have separate assets and file separate tax returns. John McCain made his tax returns public last month. McCain's campaign only released the top two summary pages of Cindy McCain's 2006 return. In them, she listed itemized deductions totaling nearly $570,000. Cindy McCain is the heiress of a large Arizona beer distributorship.
Obama supporters condemn Clinton's Kennedy remarks
WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton invoked the June 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy Friday to defend her decision to remain in the race until June 3 - sparking a wave of condemnation by Barack Obama's supporters.
Doctors give McCain clean bill of health
WASHINGTON - Doctors for John McCain gave the 71-year-old likely GOP presidential nominee a clean bill of health Friday, but refused to discuss the various medical issues he can be expected to face over the next four years.
Petraeus considers troop reductions
WASHINGTON - Gen. David Petraeus said yesterday he is likely to recommend further troop reductions in Iraq but won't promise more details until fall - timing that plunges the four-star Army general into the heart of this year's presidential elections.
Obama, McCain start process of choosing running mates
WASHINGTON - Barack Obama and John McCain have begun taking steps toward choosing their running mates, fresh signs that the Democratic nomination fight may be nearing an end and the presidential race is moving toward an Obama-McCain general election matchup.
Senate GOP breaks from Bush on war-funding bill
WASHINGTON - In a resounding break from President George W. Bush, a majority of Senate Republicans joined Democrats yesterday in approving a war-funding bill that would provide for a major new expansion of the World War II-era GI Bill.