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Barack Obama’s crushing victory over Hillary Clinton in South Carolina, where he received more votes than Mrs Clinton and John Edwards combined, will restore much of the momentum that he briefly enjoyed following his emphatic victory in Iowa. But Mr Obama’s stunning win is also likely to polarise further an already bitterly divided Democratic Party as the Clintons pull out all stops to maximise their chances on the “Super Tuesday” February 5 primary of 22 states. Even before the polls had closed on Saturday, Bill Clinton, who has been widely attacked for allegedly “playing the race card” in the last...

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially-charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a Feb. 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was running third, a sharp setback in the state where he was born and scored a primary victory in his first presidential campaign four years ago. The Associated Press made its call based on surveys of voters as they left the polls. About half the voters were black, according to polling place interviews, and four out...

Hillary's campaign tactics are causing some liberals to turn against the couple. Something strange happened the other day. All these different people -- friends, co-workers, relatives, ... -- kept saying the same thing: They've suddenly developed a disdain for Bill and Hillary Clinton. Maybe this is just a coincidence, but I think we've reached an irrevocable turning point in liberal opinion of the Clintons. The sentiment seems to be concentrated among Barack Obama supporters. Going into the campaign, most of us liked Hillary Clinton just fine, but the fact that tens of millions of Americans are seized with irrational loathing...

Illinois Senator Barack Obama gets the support of 30 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa, compared to 26 percent for Clinton, 22 percent for former senator John Edwards and 11 percent for New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. The results are only marginally changed from a Post-ABC poll in late July, but in a state likely to set the course for the rest of the nominating process, there are significant signs of progress for Obama -- and harbingers of concern for Clinton.

The White House on Tuesday assailed Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton for criticizing President Bush in her latest television ad, calling her statements "outrageous." The 60-second spot, which began running Tuesday in Iowa, intercuts scenes of the candidate interacting with voters and talking about challenges facing many working people. "If you're a family that is struggling and you don't have health care, you are invisible to this president," the New York senator says in the ad. "If you're a single mom trying to find affordable child care so you can go to work, you're invisible too. The ad also argued that...

...Mrs. Clinton, you may recall, took umbrage at Imus's remarks, branding them "small-minded bigotry and coarse sexism." His words, she said in an e-mail to supporters, "showed a disregard for basic decency and were disrespectful and degrading to African Americans and women everywhere." Good for her, I say, except it must be asked why she was down in Florida making nice to -- and pocketing big bucks from -- a rapper whose obscenity-laced lyrics praise violence, perpetuate racist stereotypes and demean black women. Check out Timbaland's latest album, "Timbaland Presents Shock Value." Here are lyrics from the track "Come and...

Inquirer Political Analyst And the senator's efforts to dampen criticism and control the Bill-and-Hillary narrative aren't going to work. The Clintons want to party like it's 1992. Back at the dawn of their excellent adventure, Hillary would tell voters that she and her husband were a package deal, two for the price of one. And when they found themselves under attack - thanks to his military draft avoidance and bimbo eruptions - they hunkered in their bunker ("the war room," as Hillary dubbed it) and toughed it out together. Even though the roles are reversed this time - with Bill...

Last week was not so good for Sen. Hillary Clinton. On Wednesday, billionaire movie and music executive David Geffen was quoted by The New York Times' Maureen Dowd as saying, "Everybody in politics lies, but they [the Clintons] do it with such ease, it's troubling." This comes from a former Friend of Bill. Had Sen. Clinton let it go without comment, or with a wave-of-the-hand explanation that it was only the lashing out of a bitter former friend and she refused to stoop to such personal attacks, it would have blown over in a day. But Clinton couldn't resist proving...

Last December, a NEWSWEEK reporter tentatively broached a delicate subject with a longstanding adviser to Hillary Clinton: was there a concern in the Hillary camp that her husband might somehow embarrass her in the campaign ahead? The reaction was swift and fierce. "If that's what you want to talk about, I'm hanging up right now," said the adviser, who did not wish to be identified even entertaining such a question. But it is the elephant in the room. Senator Clinton's presidential campaign can ill afford another scandal swirling around her husband, whose second term in the White House was badly...

"Sorry" seems to be the hardest word for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The New York Democrat is not used to being challenged on either her policy positions or her votes - especially when it comes to Iraq. For the last six years, she's operated in a protective bubble - insulated from the press and the voters. Those days are over. Since she entered the presidential race two weeks ago, she's learned quickly that voters in Iowa and New Hampshire - and most likely in the rest of the country - want truthful answers and won't accept scripted spin. During the...

ORANGEBURG, S.C. — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that South Carolina should remove the Confederate flag from its Statehouse grounds, in part because the nation should unite under one banner while at war.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the early front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, has called for a 90-day deadline to start pulling American troops from Iraq. Clinton, the wife of former President Bill Clinton, has been criticized by some Democrats for supporting authorization of the war in 2002 and for not renouncing her vote as she seeks the U.S. presidency in next year's election. "Now it's time to say the redeployment should start in 90 days or the Congress will revoke authorization for this war," the New York senator said in a video on her campaign Web...

WASHINGTON — Old enemies of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are out in force. Just weeks after she joined the Democratic Party's flock of presidential contenders, Clinton is being targeted by conservative and Republican-allied activists intent on derailing her campaign before the start of next year's primaries. They have surfaced with a flurry of planned projects: a Michael Moore-style documentary film, book-length exposes, and websites such as StopHerNow.comand StopHillaryPAC.com. Conservative admirers of the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth media blitz that helped torpedo Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential candidacy in 2004 are now agitating to "Swift-boat" Clinton. .........Clinton campaign...

One of the most important decisions that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., made about her bid for the presidency came late last year, when she ended a debate in her camp over whether she should repudiate her 2002 vote authorizing military action in Iraq. Several advisers, friends and donors said in interviews that they had urged her to call her vote a mistake to appease anti-war Democrats, who play a critical role in the nominating process. Yet Clinton herself, backed by another faction, never wanted to apologize -- even if she viewed the war as a mistake -- arguing that...

CONCORD, N.H. -- Monique Cesna seemed ready to toss a softball to Hillary Clinton. "I have to say, 'You go, girl!" Cesna said, and the capacity crowd in the high school gym here went wild. But Cesna, 47, a nurse turned third-year law student, then bore down for the cross-examination: Candidate Clinton insists she wouldn't have taken the country to war in Iraq had she been president, yet Senator Clinton voted to authorize President Bush to go to war. "How can you then explain the seeming contradiction?" she asked -- and again the crowd went wild. Iraq was the throbbing...

The buzz in Democratic circles for the past two weeks has been over the decision to raise money for Sen. Barack Obama by two or three multimillionaire liberals from Hollywood who were thought to be supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president. An explanation that this is the movie industry's delayed reaction to some of President Bill Clinton's policies is not credible. The real reason for the defection is more troubling for Clinton's campaign. In fact, the Hollywood defections have the same root as resistance to Clinton's candidacy among less glittering Democratic activists throughout the country. A substantial number of...

Sick of people ripping on Smoke

by Mark Finkelstein January 17, 2006 - 20:09 Apparently even Chris Matthews has his limits when it comes to swallowing Dem BS. The proof came tonight, when Matthews clearly wasn't buying Al Sharpton's transparently lame defense of Hillary Clinton's allegation, at an MLK Day event, that "the House of Representatives has been run like a plantation, and you know what I'm talking about." Sharpton's theater of the absurd reached its apotheosis when he claimed that Hillary "did not make the comments at a Harlem church". Even the New york Times had to admit that she had spoken in "at the...

Last night I was pickin my banjo, drinkin a beer and enjoying a dip of Copenhagen and started thinkin bout my all time favorite C&W songs. You know, the ones you don't get tired of listening to. This is my top 5. 5. He Stopped Loving Her Today by George Jones 4. You're Not the Best by Charlie Robison 3. Rodeo by Garth Brooks 2. Amarillo by Morning by George Strait 1. Song of Wyoming by Chris LeDoux

The top 40 things you would NEVER hear a Redneck say, no matter how much they've had to drink, no matter how far from the South they've wandered and no matter how much the skunks are threatening: 40. Oh, I just couldn't. Hell, she's only sixteen. 39. I'll take Shakespeare for 1000, Alex. 38. Duct tape won't fix that. 37. Honey, I think we should sell the pickup and buy a family sedan. 36. Come to think of it, I'll have a Heineken. 35. We don't keep firearms in this house. 34. Has anybody seen the sideburns trimmer? 33. You...