SPINCYCLE: Where 'boon' came from

DAN JANISON | dan.janison@newsday.com

February 24, 2008

The Democratic campaign has moved in earnest to Ohio, where times are tough and NAFTA has become a dirty word. In an effort to score points, Barack Obama has been dropping a mail piece that repeats a charge he has made several other times during the campaign - that "Hillary Clinton believed NAFTA was 'a boon' to the economy."

This attack has attracted a flurry of attention, from Clinton's campaign and some reporters. As it turns out, the primary source is Newsday, as was reported on the Spin Cycle page on Newsday.com on Feb. 14. Back in Sept. 2006, a chart printed in Newsday compared Hillary with her Democratic U.S. Senate primary challenger Jonathan Tasini on a variety of issues. The issues chart included this:

"FREE TRADE

JONATHAN TASINI: Tasini favors scrapping the Bill Clinton-backed North American Free Trade Agreement, saying it drives down domestic wages.

HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Clinton thinks NAFTA has been a boon to the economy, but voted against the Central American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement, saying it would drive jobs offshore."

Because it's raised questions - with Clinton criticizing Obama for making "false claims" in the mail piece - we've looked into the chart. In it, Newsday did not have the Clinton campaign using the word "boon" in describing NAFTA. The word was Newsday's characterization of how the paper's reporters best understood her position on NAFTA, based on a review of past stories and her public statements.

Tasini called for scrapping NAFTA in 2006. She did not. Newsday did not have a direct quote indicating she thought it was good for the economy at that time. Also, for that matter, Clinton's campaign did not contact Newsday to question the item after it appeared in print.

Obama's use of the citation in this way does seem misleading. The quotation marks make it look as if Hillary said "boon." It's an example of the kind of slim reeds campaigns use to try to win an office.

That said, Newsday should have been clearer.