Chris Dodd to Drop Out

Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Dodd is expected to announce he is dropping out of the race after a disappointing performance in the Iowa caucus.

Source: CNN

Hillary Picks Up 10th Senator

Image courtesy of Hillary Hub

Good news for the Hillary Clinton campaign as they prepare for the Iowa caucus. The campaign announced today the endorsement of Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington. Cantwell's endorsement makes Hillary's list of senate endorsements grow to 10. Senator Barack Obama has 2 senate endorsements while Bill Richardson and Senator Joe Biden each have one. John Edwards and Chris Dodd have none.

John Edwards Picks Up Two More

Image courtesy of After W

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is leading the pack with the most union endorsements. Today, he picked up two more big ones. The Steelworkers and the Mine Workers both are throwing their support behind John Edwards. Senators Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd have also picked up a few union endorsements.

Democratic Candidates Sign Pledge

According to Political Wire, "John Edwards, Sen. Barack Obama, Gov. Bill Richardson, Sen. Chris Dodd and Sen. Joe Biden promised not to campaign in states that hold early nominating contests in violation of Democratic party rules, the AP reports.

They agreed to a pledge circulated by the Democratic Party chairs of Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Sen. Hillary Clinton's staff said she is still reviewing the matter. "

This is a tough one. While it is annoying that many states are trying to push up their primaries to get more play, is it entirely smart to ignore all but four states for the time being? Don't forget we have a general election coming up after the primaries. I'm not sure how I feel about this pledge, Hillary needs to think this through.

Dodd Gets Big Endorsement

Image courtesy of MSNBC

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut will announce that the International Association of Firefighters is endorsing him according to The Politico. The IAFF was the first union to endorse Senator John Kerry in 2004. Dodd will get a major boost from this, especially in New Hampshire. Many predicted that the IAFF would give their endorsement to either Governor Bill Richardson or Senator Hillary Clinton, who have both been reliable to the IAFF.

AFL-CIO Presidential Forum

The ALF-CIO held it's Democratic forum last night in Chicago moderated by MSNBC's Keith Olberman and featuring all the major Democratic contenders for president except for former Alaska senator Mike Gravel. Since this is basically the millionth Democratic debate/forum (with a million more to go), we heard a lot of the same old stuff. However, the dynamic is changing and, last night, instead of it seeming like every man and woman for him or herself...it seemed to be more of a team sport with Clinton/Biden/Dodd on one side against Obama/Edwards on another side with Richardson and Kucinich floating around.

Before that, let's talk about other things. While all the candidates did well as usual, I though last night belonged to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Richardson, for once, looked comfortable, had the best one liner ("My V-P would NOT be Dick Cheney"), stayed out of the bickering, and, most importantly, he wasn't boring. Dennis Kucinich...gotta love him. He's really passionate and he's the only candidate up there that actually has differing views from the rest. He did a lot better without Mike Gravel's presence. Senator Chris Dodd and Senator Joe Biden also did really well last night. Dodd sounded strong and Biden really knows how to work a crowd. Senator Hillary Clinton and Senator Barack Obama did well as usual with Hillary definitely sounding more presidential and experienced. She edged out Obama in his home field once again and political analysts, including Pat Buchanan, agree it was her night. John Edwards did the poorest. His desperation is shining through and he's trying to do whatever it takes to crawl back to the top.

Edwards started the bickering early on by trying to condemn Hillary for taking lobbyist money and Barack echoed Edwards' criticism. Hillary stood her ground and defended her position. Edwards was trying to capitalize on the fact that Hillary got booed at YearlyKos for lobbyist defense. Guess what Edwards? This wasn't YearlyKos. Lucky for Barack, Gravel was not there to call him out saying that Barack does indeed take money from special interest groups, even if they aren't federal lobbyists (key word there is federal). Keith Olberman did mention to Barack about him accepting money from lobbyists to which Obama went defensive very quickly. Obama and Edwards are fooling nobody. Do you really think they are getting all their money from the general public? They are the two people I have actually seen speak in person and while they are both great, charasmatic speakers....they continue to disappoint and unimpress.

This team up of Obama and Edwards continued as the two candidates attempted to paint themselves as Washington outsiders and portray the others as Washington insiders. This has been Obama's motto all along, which Edwards is now trying to hop on Obama's bandwagon. Desperate much Edwards? Hopefully, Obama and Edwards will cancel each other out because, frankly, both are starting to become very whiny and very "vote for us because we aren't with the in-crowd."

Next came the time to attack Barack Obama. As mentioned here in previous posts, Obama recently stated that we need to pull out of Iraq and go into Pakistan to get Al-Qaeda. Now he's trying to take his words back and add stuff in there by saying "only if we have actionable intelligence" and "scratch that, noone discussed nuclear weapons" after he mentioned nuclear weapons and Pakistan. To me, Obama is continuing to see that he needs to seem more experienced and more knowledgeable on foreign policy so he is doing and saying anything to get his name out there. Last night, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd came after Obama for his remarks saying that he made a mistake about his remarks about Pakistan and Biden even went on to say that "Barack said nothing new and he was just stating something (actionable intelligence) that is already policy." Basically, Biden called Obama out for copying him and for stating something that the U.S. already does but making it seem like it was a new idea. Olberman tried to get Hillary to say something in regards to Obama's statements and, while she did say that it was unwise and unpresidential, her remarks weren't as heated as those from Dodd and Biden. Hillary was able to take the high road last night and not be so on the offense due to the support she had on stage from Biden and Dodd. It was definitely a good thing for her and Dodd and Biden definitely elevated her last night. Perhaps, Dodd and Biden have struck a deal to join Hillary's cabinet and administration? Who knows. I'd love that. Anyways, Obama defended himself against Dodd, Biden, and Hillary the ONLY way he knows how....by talking about IRAQ (which wasn't even brought up). Barack tooted the "well, what's naive is all you guys voting for the Iraq war" business again. I'm so sick of this argument. Get over it Obama. You weren't in the Senate. You didn't vote for Iraq because you didn't have the chance to vote for Iraq....whether it would have been a yes or a no. The only person who truly voted against Iraq and not vote to fund it (Barack voted to fund it) was Dennis Kucinich. Same old argument, a different day. Get something new Obama...please.

That's all. Expect more bickering.

Clinton and Obama in the Playground

Here's a nice and telling article from The New York Times about the relationship between Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. In fact, this article goes very well with the political cartoon that Leah posted below. The article discusses how the two, once friendly to each other senators, now barely speak and try to avoid contact but watch each other very carefully. It also compares the Senate floor to a playground. Here is an excerpt:

Mrs. Clinton, of New York, and Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut came first, laughing and smiling as they made their way to the Democratic side of the aisle. A few paces behind was Senator Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, who quickly joined the other two in a light moment. (Earlier, Mrs. Clinton and Senator John McCain , an Arizona Republican, had been trading warm banter near the front of the Senate floor, which takes on the air of a schoolyard during marathon voting sessions like these.)

Mr. Obama entered the Senate floor alone. He glanced at the other three, pulled out his Blackberry and paused for a few seconds before walking to the third row and taking a seat next to three freshman senators. As the evening passed, Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton each spoke with several Republicans in the room and to nearly every Democrat -- except each other.

It has got to be awkward for those two! Their schedules are so similar that they really can't avoid each other. Nice to see that Hillary, Joe, and Chris can still chill together on the Senate floor!

Obama Vs. Pakistan

This continues my series on why Senator Barack Obama is NOT ready to be president and why my candidate, Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton, is. Also, I'll pretty much take anyone of the Democrats except for Obama. Okay...so maybe I'd leave Gravel and Kucinich as well but, at least, I give them credit for being more real.

Senator Obama has made more reckless remarks regarding how the U.S. should withdraw its troops from Iraq and stick them in Afghanistan and Pakistan to deal with terrorists. I'm sorry Senator but it is too soon to talk about taking our troops out just to stick them somewhere else. A big reason we want the war in Iraq to end is because we want our troops to come home and not to be thrown into another unneccessary war with no end in sight. There are other ways to hunt down Bin Laden then to throw us into another conflict. Hillary Clinton was right when she called Barack Obama's answer regarding meeting with the "bad" world leaders "naive" and "irresponsible." Here is a snippet of how Pakistan feels after Obama's comments from the Associated Press and posted at Hillaryis44.

Pakistan criticized U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama on Friday for saying that, if elected, he might order unilateral military strikes against terrorists hiding in this Islamic country. Top Pakistan officials said Obama’s comment was irresponsible and likely made for political gain in the race for the Democratic nomination. “It’s a very irresponsible statement, that’s all I can say,” Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khusheed Kasuri told AP Television News. “As the election campaign in America is heating up we would not like American candidates to fight their elections and contest elections at our expense.”

Obama said in a speech Wednesday that as president he would order military action against terrorists in Pakistan’s tribal region bordering Afghanistan if intelligence warranted it. The comment provoked anger in Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror.

President Bush has worsened our relationships with countries ALL over the world and it is most definitely the worst in the Middle East and southwestern Asia. Pakistan is actually an ALLY of the US right now so please don't isolate them and threaten them with blanket statements about nuclear weapons and war. Other Democratic presidential candidates including Senator Joe Biden of Delaware, who is perhaps the most experienced in foreign policy having sat on the foreign relations committee, and Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut have called Obama out for his comments and Biden has echoed Clinton's call of Obama as naive. Obama stated he wanted to meet with our enemies...wonderful...all the Democratic candidates are for more diplomacy so your little tiff against Hillary Clinton was stupid and unneccessary for both campaigns. However, don't push countries that are not our enemies further and further away. Obama has the rock star quality and I feel that's why he chose to run...because he's very much enjoying the attention and popularity that comes with power. His comments are showing me more and more that he is not ready to lead this country. A few days ago Obama said how, out of all the candidates Democrat and Republican, he had the best and most foreign policy experience because he has lived oversees and has family overseas. NEWSFLASH...Obama lived oversees for FOUR years when he was SIX years old. Give me a break Obama, why don't you take a back seat and let your staffer David Axelrod run for the presidency because he is clearly more experienced than you. And fyi...if you want to distance yourself from George W. Bush...then think before you speak and don't start throwing stuff out there for political gain.