Free Republic

US PRESIDENTIAL contender Barack Obama has wiped out his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's yawning lead in Indiana and trails by just five points in Pennsylvania, according to a new poll. Ahead of the crunch Pennsylvania primary next Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll suggested that Senator Obama has not suffered overly from his description of working-class voters as "bitter". The poll gave the former first lady a lead over Senator Obama of 46 per cent to 41 in Pennsylvania, down from double-digit margins in earlier polls, and also had her losing in both Indiana and North Carolina, which both vote...

Here's a clip taken by somebody at the San Francisco event; it's the passage just before the lines everyone is now focused on, in which he talks about the skepticism he encounters: Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered...

WASHINGTON — Buoyed by recent polls favoring John McCain to win the White House, Republicans are sharpening their knives while wondering which Democrat would be easier to beat in November. For months, Republican strategists have delighted over the prospect of facing off with Hillary Clinton, believing that she would be easier to beat than her Democratic rival, Barack Obama. But things have changed since the Obama campaign was engulfed in controversy over embarrassing statements by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, whose fiery sermons have been called anti-American. The former first lady and New York senator is one of the most...

Breaking her silence on the controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s long-time pastor, Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that she would have left the congregation if her pastor behaved like Obama’s. “He would not have been my pastor,” Clinton told reporters at a press conference in Greensburg, Pa. “You know, we don’t have a choice when it comes to our relatives. We have a choice when it comes to our pastors and the churches we attend,” she said. “Everyone will have to decide these matters for themselves. They are obviously very personal matters … I think the choice would be clear for me.”...

ANGELINA Jolie and Brad Pitt could be split on which Democrat to vote for in the US Presidential race - with researchers finding they are each distant relatives of a candidate. Barack Obama is apparently Pitt's distant cousin, while Hillary Clinton is related to Jolie, Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Meanwhile Republican John McCain is said to be a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush. Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society made the connections, the Associated Press reports today. Senator Obama can also call six US presidents, including George W Bush, his cousins, according to the...

This report, from January 2007, is worth reading as we learn more and more of what Jeremiah Wright is all about. It fawns over the principals (Wright, for example, is described as "a straight-talking pragmatist"), but it's illuminating about the regard Obama has for Wright and his views. Did you know, for example, that the Reverand is the inspiration for Obama's memoir The Audacity of Hope — the title is evidently taken from a Wright sermon called "Audacity to Hope." (I didn't until I heard Rush mention it a few minutes ago.) Some excerpts: Wright, 65, is a straight-talking pragmatist...

Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, who is stepping down from Hillary Clinton’s finance team after telling a California newspaper that Barack Obama has been aided politically by his race, said Wednesday evening that the remarks were nothing more than a “statement of fact.” Ferraro told FOX News she’s leaving her unpaid post on the Clinton finance committee because she doesn’t want the flap to become a campaign distraction, but blamed the fallout on Obama’s operatives. “Somebody must have seen this (article) and said, ‘Wow, this is really something — we go after Ferraro, we go after Clinton,” Ferraro said...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she disagrees with Geraldine Ferraro, one of her fundraisers and the 1984 Democratic vice presidential candidate, for saying that Barack Obama "would not be in this position" if he were white instead of black. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Clinton said she regretted Ferraro's remarks. The Obama campaign has called on the New York senator to denounce the comments and remove Ferraro from her unpaid position with the campaign. Last week, Ferraro told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif.: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be...

Watchdog groups are questioning why it took Sen. Barack Obama more than a year to disclose additional details of his dealings with indicted fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko. While Rezko was known to be under federal investigation, Obama toured a Chicago-area home with him to get his opinion of the property, Obama's campaign revealed to Bloomberg News for a story published Monday. The politician later bought the home, with Rezko's help, who bought the adjoining lot in what was effectively a package deal. Until then, Obama has professed trouble recalling such details during interviews with reporters. Responding to questions about Rezko...

His record isn't likely to win back the rural "pro-gun" voters who've fled to the Republicans in recent years, likely costing Gore the election in 2000. From the Chicago Defender, Dec. 13, 1999: Sweeping federal gun control legislation proposed by Sen. Barack Obama (D-13th) would increase the penalties on gun runners who are flooding Chicago's streets with illegal weapons. At an anti-gun rally held at the Park Manor Christian Church, 600 E. 73rd St., headed by the Rev. James Demus, Obama also said he's backing a resolution being introduced into the City Council by Alds. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Ted Thomas...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - With no clear winner after months of wooing voters, the tight race for the Democratic White House nomination may leave the choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to "super-delegates." The super-delegates are party leaders and lawmakers, including all Democratic members of Congress and former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as ex-vice president Al Gore. If no candidate has a lock on the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination before the party's convention in August, the 796 "super-delegates" would be decisive. Unlike "pledged" delegates chosen through primaries and caucuses, super-delegates are free to...

Leadership: Newsweek proclaims Obama an "icon of change." But is it a change from victory in Iraq to defeat, from low taxes to high and from prosperity to dependency?"Change" is the operative word in this primary season, and few candidates have been able to complete a sentence without it. Barack Obama may very well change the political landscape if he dispatches Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary. But the kind of policy changes he has in mind for America are not the kind we need. Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani put it in context when he said, "I know there's...

On October 20th, I posted this item at NewsBusters: "Obama: No Hand on Heart for National Anthem," which included a "Time" photo of Barack Obama at Sen. Tom Harkin's steak fry in September. In contrast with the other candidates, Obama was shown not placing his hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem. A reproduction of the photo is seen here, as displayed on today's "Morning Joe." I believe I may have been the first person in the blogosphere to discuss the story. Fox News made reference to the matter on a couple shows, but to my...

Barack Obama, the Democrat aiming to become America's first black president, has condemned Republican slurs about his background after a leading candidate confused him with Osama bin Laden. In what aides claimed was a slip of the tongue, the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney accused the Illinois senator of urging terrorists to converge in Iraq — as the al-Qa'eda leader did in a tape released this week. In the midst of criticising Democrats' foreign policy, he said: "Actually, just look at what Osam — uh — Barack Obama, said just yesterday. Barack Obama calling on radicals, jihadists of all different...

Romney slip: another Osama-Obama mix-up By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago In a slip of the tongue, Republican Mitt Romney accused Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama of urging terrorists to congregate in Iraq. In the midst of criticizing Obama and other Democrats on foreign and economic policy Tuesday, the GOP presidential hopeful said: "Actually, just look at what Osam — Barack Obama — said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. ... It's almost as if the Democratic contenders for president are living...

Turns out that not wearing a flag lapel pin isn't the only way Barack Obama chooses to show that he's a different kind of Democrat. Have a look at the photo from the October 1, 2007 edition of "Time." It shows Obama, Hillary and Bill Richardson at the Steak Fry of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) on September 17 in Indianola, IA, apparently reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Richardson and Clinton have their hands on their heart. But not Obama. Does he perhaps believe that, like wearing the flag pin, the hand on the heart isn't "true patriotism"? "Time" ran the...

Governor Deval Patrick will throw his support behind Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential campaign, an endorsement that could give the Illinois senator a boost in the crucial New Hampshire primary and may help Obama blunt some of Senator Hillary Clinton's recent success in winning African-American support. Administration officials confirmed that the governor called Obama yesterday to pledge his endorsement, and Patrick's volunteers began working out the details of a public rally in Boston Tuesday. Patrick also called Clinton yesterday to break the news that he would endorse her opponent. Patrick has strong ties to the New York senator from...

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama Monday warned of an erosion in business ethics, which he said offended US morals and endangered the might of US financial markets. In a major speech on economic policy, the Illinois Senator condemned the Bush administration's "massive tax cuts" and called for more transparency in the housing market, following the subprime mortgage crisis. "In recent years, we have seen a dangerous erosion of the rules and principles that have allowed our market to work and our economy to thrive," Obama said in a speech at the NASDAQ market site. "Instead of thinking about what's good...

Is there any method to bin Laden’s madness? After years of not being seen in public, he is apparently surfacing on the eve of the 6th anniversary of his Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Intelligence agencies have stated that Islamic terrorists like to mark anniversaries with attacks. As religious fundamentalists, they may even be motivated by Islam’s interest in numbers or numerology. While the number 6 has little religious significance for Islamics, this Sept. 11 will mark an important number: 72. That’s 72 months since the 9/11 strikes of 2001. Could there be significance in that number? We did some research...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Did she or didn't she? That's the question some political observers are asking about recent comments from Michelle Obama, the wife of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama, that could be interpreted as a swipe against her husband's chief presidential rival Hillary Clinton. In Atlantic, Iowa last Thursday, Michelle Obama pointed to the strength of her own family and said the next president must be "somebody that shares our values." "Is he somebody that respects family? Is he a good and decent person?" Michelle Obama asked the crowd about the next president. "Our view is that if you...