The Nuts And Bolts
Rhode Island will send 32 delegates to the Democratic National Committee. Only 13 of those delegates will be chosen directly by voters. Voters may "cast" a ballot for the presidential candidate for their choice and, in the 1st CD, up to 6 delegates supporting their candidate. The 2nd CD elects 7 delegates. Delegates are "awarded" in each district based on a candidate's vote totals, and the totals are rounded off to the nearest %. The delegate candidates who receive the most votes in each district will be awarded the seats. On June 19, the DSC will choose another 8 delegates who are pledged to a particular candidate. Those seats are "based," proportionately, on the statewide vote. The final 11 delegates are un-pledged. 10 of the unpledged delegates are superdelegates and are sent to the national convention based on their position in the party. The final unpledged delegate will be chosen by the state committee in June. (Baker, Newport Daily News, 2/29/08).
Unaffiliation Nation
With its many working-class whites, women and retirees, RI is friendly turf for HRC, who has the support of most Dem leaders here and maintains a slight lead in polls. But the Providence Journal reported that almost half of the 43K new voters who had registered in the last year "were ages 18 to 29," a demographic Obama has pursued with great success in other states. In another potentially bad sign for HRC, who does best with loyal Dems, most of the new voters registered unaffiliated. If they tun out heavily on 3/4 and HRC loses RI, she will lose more credibility (Goodnough, New York Times, 3/1).
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Obama Ohio Ad
Who's On Trial, Here?
Obama "could be called as a witness" for longtime friend/"accused Illinois fixer" Tony Rezko, "according to Chicago lawyers following the case." Jury selection in Rezko's trial began 3/3 a.m. (Ross/Patel, ABCNews.com, 3/3). Reform watchdogs say the trial will reveal the "cesspool" of IL politics "in which Obama came of age" (Ross/Schwartz/Patel, ABCNews.com, 2/29).
Obama adviser David Axelrod and Clinton adviser Howard Wolfson discussed Rezko on "This Week."
Wolfson, on Rezko: "How many fund-raisers did Mr. Rezko throw for Senator Obama? What did Senator Obama do for Mr. Rezko? Did he write letters for him? What projects of his did he support? How many business meetings did he attend where Mr. Rezko had business associates there? What are the -- one more important one -- what are the full details of this very unusual real estate transaction that Mr. Rezko and Mr. Obama entered into? What I would suggest to my friend, David, and he is my friend, they should put out all of the information regarding that real estate transaction -- all of the e-mails, all of the correspondence, all of the letters, every single piece of information -- so that the public can really look at this and say, what's going on here?"
Axelrod: "There have been 255 stories done on this issue, many by the Chicago media, others by the national media. All these questions have been asked. All these questions have been answered." More: "There has not been one -- as the Associated Press said in their summation of this thing, there has been not one bit of evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of Senator Obama in this or any other matter. And Howard knows that. Look, we are at the end of a campaign. Senator Clinton has lost 11 primaries in a row. Last week, the New York Times said she would throw -- that the campaign's plan was to throw the kitchen sink at Senator Obama to try and stop him, and this is what this is all about. And I think people will see it in those terms."
More Axelrod: "Tony Rezko hasn't raised a dime for this presidential campaign."
Axelrod: "But here's my question back to you, because this came in response to our request and our point that Senator Clinton continues to refuse to release her tax returns, as all the other candidates have. She refuses to release the documents from the Clinton Library, related to her time in the White House, which is the fulcrum of her argument on experience. There has been a refusal to release the Clinton -- the donors to the Clinton Library, despite stories that have surfaced about some of those. Now, why don't you answer those questions?"
Wolfson: "I will. I will. The tax returns are going to be released around tax time, around April 15th. ... All of the tax returns that are not currently in the public record will be released on or about April 15th. ... Now, with regard to the White House records, there was a very good article in yesterday's Washington Post, that I would recommend everyone to it. Basically said, this is a made up issue that the Obama campaign has been pushing. The records were related to Senator Clinton's schedule as first lady were given over to the president's representatives for review. That review has been completed. We've given the records back over to the archives. They are now back in the archives hands. Our say in the process is over, and I assume that they will be releasing them very expeditiously" (ABC, 3/2).
Also in Rezko-related coverage:
- Los Angeles Times header: "Obama to be in background of trial" (3/3). Chicago Sun-Times, Dallas Morning News, New York Times, Newsweek.com and others ran primers on the case.
- Chicago Tribune's Kass writes GOPers "should be eagerly lining up" for the trial, but they're "not swinging. They're keeping their bats on their shoulders," and this "should concern" McCain (3/2).
- Robert Novak writes HRC's "operatives have tried frantically, not not effectively, to interest the media outside Chicago in Obama's possible connection with his home state's latest major scandal" (Washington Post, 3/3).
- New York Daily News' McAuliff/Saul writes HRC's camp "has tried for months to bruise Obama over his ties to Tony Rezko, but with no clear evidence of wrongdoing by the candidate, the issues has not swayed voters" (3/3).
- Wall Street Journal's Fund writes Obama "will eventually have to talk about Illinois, if only to clear the air" (3/3).
- ABC's Stephanpoulos: "Unless information comes that shows Barack Obama took some action on behalf of Tony Rezko ... I do think this will fade away" ("GMA," 3/3).
- Chicago Sun-Times' Sweet gives a run-down of "material his foes can use" on "several people from Chicago connected to Obama" (3/2).
- Conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh said gellow GOPers want to see Obama "bloodied up politically," but "don't have the stomach for it" (Silva, "The Swamp," Chicago Tribune, 3/2).
- Clarence Page writes some of Obama's critics may "go to far" and "end up bringing him a sympathy vote' (Chicago Tribune, 3/2).
- Wall Street Journal's Jacoby writes lobbyists "still advise" Obama and "volunteer on his campaign" (3/1/08).
On the eve of this historic primary, Wolf Blitzer of
CNN's Situation Room is recycling allegations of Obama
ties to Rezko (which have already been disproven)
because it so happens that Rezko is going up for
trial tomorrow. Blitzer says this is a big "embarrassment"
to Obama, implying that there is something Obama did wrong,
when he did not.
Contact CNN at
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?65
One Obama supporter wrote the following to CNN:
I'm disappointed that the Situation Room would strategically
recycle a discredited rumor about Rezko property transactions,
for which Obama was already cleared of wrongdoing WAY BACK
in November 2006.
Here are the facts, excerpted from an interview by the
Chicago Sun Times with Obama back in 2006:
(Source: www.suntimes.com)
The interviewer asked Obama: How do you explain the fact
your family purchased your home the same day as Rita
Rezko bought the property adjacent to yours? Was this a
coordinated purchase?
Obama answered: The sellers required the closing of both
properties at the same time. (Note: The timing of the sale
was the sellers choice, not Obamas. The seller, by the way,
was a doctor at the University of Chicago hospital).
A second question was: Why is it that you were able to buy
your parcel for $300,000 less than the asking price, and
Rita Rezko paid full price? Who negotiated this end of the
deal? Did whoever negotiated it have any contact with Rita
and Tony Rezko or their Realtor or lawyer?
Obama answered: Our agent negotiated only with the seller's
agent. As we understood it, the house had been listed for
some time, for months, and our offer was one of two and,
as we understood it, it was the best offer. The original
listed price was too high for the market at the time, and
we understood that the sellers, who were anxious to move,
were prepared to sell the house for what they paid for it,
which is what they did.
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Yes, Obama later bought a sliver of adjoining land
that Rezko owned, to increase the size of his own
property.
Obama did note way back in 2006 that "It was a mistake
to have been engaged with him at all in this or any
other personal business dealing that would allow him,
or anyone else, to believe that he had done me a favor,"
the senator said.
So, after Rezko's indictment, Obama donated to charity
everything that Rezko had contributed to the senator's
federal campaign fund.
In addition, Obama not only did ZERO favors for Rezko,
he was a vocal opponent of a bill that would have
benefited Rezko: In 1999, when I was a State Senator,
I opposed legislation to bring a casino to Rosemont
...which news reports said Al Johnson and Tony Rezko
were interested in being part of. I never discussed
a casino license with either of them. I was a vocal
opponent of the legislation. Source: gov legislation
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