Subject: Hillary For President News Briefing for Tuesday, December 04, 2007
From: "Bulletin News Network" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: 4 Dec 2007 06:37:03 -0500

HILLARY FOR PRESIDENT NEWS BRIEFING (Executive Version)
Full version is attached and available online at http://www.bulletinnews.com/clinton

TO: CLINTON CAMPAIGN

DATE: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2007 6:30 AM EST

TODAY'S TABLE OF CONTENTS

SEN. CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN:

+ Tight Polling Coincides With Clinton's Increasingly Aggressive Anti-Obama Rhetoric.

+ Congressional Democrats Worried About Clinton Mobilizing GOP Base.

+ Ban On Florida Campaigning Expected To Favor Clinton.

+ Liberal Group Targets Clinton With Negative Iowa Ad.

+ Reich Says Clinton Lacks Conviction, Takes Direction From Penn.

+ Giuliani, Clinton Face Questions Over Disclosure.

+ Embattled Villaraigosa Stumps For Clinton In Iowa.

+ Clinton Backed By Office And Professional Employees International Union.

+ Clinton In Late 4th-Quarter Fundraising Push.

+ Edwards Looking To Stay Above Clinton-Obama Fray.

+ Obama Says Immigration Reform Must Consider Concerns Of U.S. Workers.

Sen. Clinton's Campaign:

TIGHT POLLING COINCIDES WITH CLINTON'S INCREASINGLY AGGRESSIVE ANTI-OBAMA RHETORIC. The AP (12/4, Raum) reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton, speaking Monday in Clear Lake, Iowa, chastised Sen. Barack Obama for his lack of experience and his inordinate ambition, noting that Clinton's "rhetoric underscored the tightness of a race in which polls show a dead heat between them in Iowa, with former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina also in strong contention. ... Clinton accused Obama of a 'rush to campaign' in not returning to Washington this fall to vote on a resolution naming an Iranian military unit a terrorist organization. The Bush administration supported the measure, as did Clinton _ and Obama has criticized her for it. 'Presidents can't dodge the tough political fights,' she said." The Obama campaign responded by criticizing Clinton for her vote to authorize President Bush's use of force in Iraq. This article was published by at least 50 papers and websites, including the Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, the Miami Herald, the Charlotte Observer, the Albany Times Union, the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier and the New Orleans Times-Picayune.

NBC Nightly News (12/3, story 3, 2:10, Williams, 9.87M) reported, "The competition between the two Democratic front runners, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama is getting more heated and a bit more personal." According to NBC, Clinton's campaign "is so concerned it unleashed a new strategy in Iowa today, attacking Barack Obama. ... They're worried because Obama...is ahead with five points among women. Until now her strongest supporters. By wide margin, those questioned say that she is more experienced and more presidential. But he is more likable and more likely to bring about change." Clinton "claimed Obama ducked tough votes as a state senator and isn't qualified to be president." Clinton: "To put America in the hands of someone with little national or international experience who started running for president as soon as he arrived in the United States Senate." MSNBC's Hardball (12/3, Shuster) reported Sen. Clinton "is ditching her above- the-fray approach and is now hammering Obama directly. Over the weekend, Clinton told reporters, 'I have been for months on the receiving end of rather consistent attacks. Well, now the fun part starts.' ... The accusations went into overdrive yesterday when Obama twice said that his presidential ambitions were relatively new compared to the ambitions of Clinton." Clinton's campaign "was so infuriated...they issued this press release attacking Obama because, 'Fifteen years ago, Senator Obama told his brother-in-law he was planning to run for president. ... In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled "I want to become president."' MSNBC noted that "swinging at Obama's character with material from his kindergarten class would have been unimaginable for the Clinton team a few months ago."

The Washington Post (12/4, A4, Balz, Kornblut) reports that Clinton's fortunes in Iowa have waned in the past two months, citing Iowa Poll director J. Ann Seltzer, who "described a cluster of concerns voters here have about Clinton. She is seen as capable, experienced and the most knowledgeable about the world. But her negatives are significantly higher than those of any of her leading rivals. Asked which candidate they would be most disappointed to see as their nominee in the Iowa Poll, Democrats put Clinton at the top of the list, with 27 percent citing her. ... Clinton's response has been to turn aggressive," assailing Sen. Barack Obama for "offering 'false hopes' rather than action." The Post notes that Obama responded, "It's silly season. I understand she's been quoting my kindergarten teacher in Indonesia."

The Des Moines Register (12/3, Jacobs) reported on its website that Clinton dinged Obama on "Social Security reform, diplomacy with Iran, health care [and] taking a stand when it's time to make tough decisions," suggesting that Obama "is all talk, little action." The Register notes that Clinton criticized Obama for failing to take sides on a number of Illinois legislature votes on such issues as abortion rights and gun control, citing instances in which he voted "present," rather than taking a side.

According to McClatchy (12/4, Stearns), Obama "voted 'present' in 1997 on two bills that would have outlawed the procedure that some call partial-birth abortion and on two 2001 bills related to parental notification of minors seeking abortions. He voted 'present' on a 1999 bill that would have made firing a gun on or near school grounds a crime and on a 2001 bill that would have kept strip clubs from opening within 1,000 yards of schools, churches and daycare centers."

The Hill (12/4, Youngman) also reports on Clinton "ratcheting up criticism," noting that she "specifically targeted" Obama, and that a campaign spokesperson said Clinton "would try to 'frame the primary election as a choice between a talker and a doer.'" The piece suggests that though John Edwards is also polling strongly in Iowa, Clinton is choosing to focus on Obama and "what she sees as his thin record." In her speech in Clear lake, "Without mentioning Obama by name, Clinton hits the senator for what she sees as the shortcomings of his healthcare plan, his failure to vote on the Kyl-Lieberman Iran resolution and, in a new charge, the many 'present' votes Obama cast while he was in the Illinois state Senate. 'A president can't vote 'present,' ' Clinton said. 'A president can't pick and choose which challenges he or she will face.'"

Radio Iowa (12/3, Henderson) reported on its website that "continued a barrage of attacks on rival Barack Obama. Obama, in turn, labeled Clinton's comments 'silliness.'" In Clear Lake, Clinton said, "You decide which makes more sense: to entrust our country to someone who is ready on day one to make the decisions and the changes we need, or to put America in the hands of someone with little national or international experience who started running for president as soon as he arrived in the United States Senate."

The New York Times (12/3, Healy) reported on its 'The Caucus' blog that the latest AP poll shows better results for Clinton than does the latest Des Moines Register poll, but that Clinton's rhetoric against Obama remains sharp, noting that in Mason City, "she rained point after point down on Mr. Obama's head. 'Now there is a funny argument in fashion these days – it goes something like this - those of us who have been fighting and winning these battles are not the right ones to push our country forward,' Mrs. Clinton said. 'The argument suggests that people like me, and Governor Richardson, and Senator Dodd and Senator Biden, are somehow disqualified from making the changes that American needs, even though we've been doing that for decades.'" However, "Obama's campaign swiftly responded once more, as it has for the last two weeks of attacks from Mrs. Clinton, circulating statements from abortion-rights and gun-control advocates saying that Mr. Obama's 'present' votes were not a dodge on tough issues, as Mrs. Clinton suggested, but rather a normal and unobjectionable part of the legislative process."

The Chicago Tribune (12/4, Pearson, Dorning) adds, "A Democratic presidential contest that had focused on high-minded qualities of leadership, experience and change has whiplashed into sharp attacks between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama over courage, character and kindergarten writings amid ever-tightening polls and the ever-closer Iowa caucuses. The intensity of the rhetoric flowing between the two rival camps underscores the stakes of Iowa's presidential deliberations."

Clinton's "Kindergarten Cop" Statement Seen As Potential Blunder. In a posting on 'The Swamp' blog of the Chicago Tribune (12/3), Frank James writes that Clinton's criticism that Obama has wanted to be president since he was in kindergarten could leave her open to attack on the same grounds, noting that Obama "has gotten under the Clinton campaign's skin by saying that unlike some in the race (read Clinton) he hasn't been angling for the White House for decades. Coming from the same political school as her husband...which holds as a first principle that no opponent's charge can go unanswered, the Clinton campaign decided it needed to respond in kind. Note that It hasn't gone the route of saying the former first lady hasn't been calculating her White House bid for years. That wouldn't be credible. So the only other attack is to try a little political jiu jitsu, to turn try and turn Obama's attack against him." However, "The problem for Clinton is that her campaign's attempt to paint Obama as a calculating type who precociously hungered for the presidency runs the risk of reminding voters of some of the very questions they have about her, that she herself has wanted the presidency for decades and has plotted her course with that in mind. There's the real possibility of blowback because of perceived hypocrisy."

The Concord Monitor (12/4, Schoenberg) adds, "Just call Hillary Clinton kindergarten cop. In a Sunday memo, Clinton's presidential campaign...found instances from Obama's past when he told close associates that he planned to run for president . . . reaching as far back as kindergarten. ... The kindergarten memo is just one example of a recent spate of attacks among the top Democratic presidential candidates, which are only likely to escalate in the remaining month before the first nominating contests."

In a posting on 'the Swamp' blog of the Chicago Tribune (12/3), Eric Zorn writes that reports of Clinton's statement about Obama's kindergarten ambition is "as hilarious as it is astonishing," concluding that "It's silly, it's desperate, it's easily parodied and it's even a bit chilling: It suggests that Clinton will stop at nothing -- not even the line of adolescence -- to try to destroy her political foes. She, or more likely some lower level campaign functionary, has blundered into illustrating one of the more unflattering caricatures of her, but in a way that invites not sober criticism but mockery."

According to the New York Times (12/4, Healy, 1.18M), Clinton "doesn't sound angry or look angry or act angry. But if you transcribe her recent speeches in Iowa and reread them, they do seem angry -- or, at least, more negative toward other Democrats than she has been since the 1992 presidential primary campaign of her husband. ... Some Clinton advisers are also concerned that voters may react poorly to attacks by a woman. There is little precedent here in a presidential race, and that uncertainty, among other factors, has her advisers concerned about the impact of negative television commercials if she runs them."

New Obama Website Pans Clinton For Attacks. USA Today (12/4, Lawrence) reports that Sen. Barack Obama's campaign "launched a new 'Hillary attacks' website Monday even as Hillary Rodham Clinton was telling voters in Clear Lake that he had ducked votes on guns and abortion as an Illinois state legislator. The sharp exchanges between the two Democrats, a month before the state's leadoff presidential caucuses Jan. 3, reflect ping-ponging polls in a race too close to call."

AFP (12/4) also reports on Clinton's comments panning Obama, noting that she said "he could not learn the presidency from a book, as their battle got even uglier one month before the first voters weigh in. Obama's camp meanwhile accused Clinton of panicking over her prospects in the key state of Iowa, which holds the crucial first nominating contests of the 2008 race on January 3." The AFP report suggests that the Des Moines Register poll prompted Clinton's criticisms, adding that Obama's "camp has reacted sharply to Clinton's new tone, and on Monday unveiled a new website to chart her criticisms, dubbed 'Hillary Attacks.'"

CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS WORRIED ABOUT CLINTON MOBILIZING GOP BASE. The New York Times (12/4, Hulse) reports that such Democrats as KS2 Rep. Nancy Boyda (D), whose congressional seats are in close districts, are worried that should Sen. Hillary Clinton win the Democratic nomination, they will be vulnerable "to attack as too liberal and out of step with the values of their constituents. And few incumbent Democrats face a greater challenge next year than Ms. Boyda, whose district delivered almost 60 percent of its votes to President Bush in 2004. ... In the Senate, Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana faces a similar challenge, and in an indication of what she and other Democrats, including Senators Max Baucus of Montana and Mark Pryor of Arkansas, could face, Republicans unveiled a Web commercial on Monday linking Ms. Landrieu directly to Mrs. Clinton. In the advertisement, Mrs. Clinton's face morphs into Ms. Landrieu's, and they are described as 'two peas in a pod.'"

BAN ON FLORIDA CAMPAIGNING EXPECTED TO FAVOR CLINTON. The Palm Beach Post (12/4, Dáte) reports that the Democratic Party's decision to sanction Florida by preventing Democrats from campaigning there has "left Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York the overwhelming favorite," predicting that Sen. Barack Obama will "concentrate on winning states in the Feb. 5 round of primaries" to the exclusion of Florida. "'I think that decision's been made for us,' said Frank Sanchez, Obama's lead fund-raiser in Tampa. 'Given what's happened with the national party, we can't campaign.'"

LIBERAL GROUP TARGETS CLINTON WITH NEGATIVE IOWA AD. The AP (12/4) reports, "Liberal activists plan to begin airing a television ad against Hillary Rodham Clinton in Iowa this week, the first non-Republican negative ad aimed at a Democratic presidential candidate." The group, Democratic Courage, has "accused Clinton of making policy decisions on the basis of polls, not convictions." Glenn Hurowitz, "the group's president, described the spot as a modest buy that would run on cable only, meaning it won't be seen as much as ads by Clinton and rival Barack Obama, who are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads in the state."

REICH SAYS CLINTON LACKS CONVICTION, TAKES DIRECTION FROM PENN. CNN (12/3, Hamby) reported on its politics blog that Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor during Bill Clinton's first term, posted an entry on his blog that "ripped Hillary Clinton for saying Sunday that Iowa voters will have a choice 'between someone who talks the talk, and somebody who's walked the walk.' 'I don't get it,' Reich wrote on his blog. 'If there's anyone in the race whose history shows unique courage and character, it's Barack Obama. HRC's campaign, by contrast, is singularly lacking in conviction about anything. Her pollster, Mark Penn, has advised her to take no bold positions and continuously seek the political center, which is exactly what she's been doing.'"

GIULIANI, CLINTON FACE QUESTIONS OVER DISCLOSURE. The AP (12/4, Sidoti) reports Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Rodham Clinton "have secrecy issues dogging them. The front-runners in national polls for their parties' nominations both are grappling with disclosure controversies as they seek to succeed President Bush, known as one of the most secretive chief executives in modern history." For Giuliani, the "primary issue is Giuliani Partners, the consulting business he formed when he left City Hall. He still works for the firm but won't shed light on its business dealings or release a client list. He's not required to; the company is privately held." Clinton is "taking heat over locked-away correspondence between President Clinton and her during their White House years. She often cites her experience in her campaign, and rivals argue she should expedite the opening of those records to allow her experience to be evaluated, particularly on health care policy." This article was published in over 50 papers, including the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Charlotte Observer, the Benton Crier and Newsday.

EMBATTLED VILLARAIGOSA STUMPS FOR CLINTON IN IOWA. The AP (12/4, Blood), in an article that appeared in around six California papers, reports that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose "marital meltdown dominated front pages last summer," is campaigning for Sen. Hillary Clinton in Iowa. The piece notes that his endorsement last May of Clinton was met with much fanfare, but that since his marital scandal erupted, his profile has been lower than expected. "The mayor's appearance in Iowa last weekend was just the second time he's been out of state stumping for his candidate since he was named national co-chair of the Clinton campaign in May."

CLINTON BACKED BY OFFICE AND PROFESSIONAL EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION. The Boston Globe (12/4) reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton "announced her latest union endorsement yesterday, and trumpeted a new poll that, unlike some others, shows her ahead in Iowa. The 125,000-member Office and Professional Employees International Union is the latest part of Big Labor to cast its lot with Clinton, and a new Associated Press-Pew Research Center poll shows her leading in Iowa with 31 percent, compared with 26 percent for Barack Obama and 19 percent for John Edwards."

CLINTON IN LATE 4TH-QUARTER FUNDRAISING PUSH. A "Campaign Takeout" column in the New York Daily News (12/4) relates, "Hey, brother, could you spare $1.25million by Friday to help Hillary Clinton win Iowa? Clinton sent out an urgent fund-raising e-mail Monday, suggesting if she doesn't do well in the kickoff caucus state and the next couple of contests after that, she's cooked. 'With the Democratic nomination hinging on our actions over these next few weeks, we cannot take anything for granted or let up for a moment,' wrote Clinton, who has amassed $90 million for her campaign but is in a dead heat in Iowa with rival Barack Obama."

EDWARDS LOOKING TO STAY ABOVE CLINTON-OBAMA FRAY. CBS News (12/3, Lewis) reported on its 'Campaign '08 Horserace' blog that John Edwards is staying out of the current fray between Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, "as a casual-and even an amused-observer." "'The Clinton and Obama sniping over the last 24 hours is really fascinating to listen to,' said a tongue-in-cheek Edwards at a community meeting in Waterloo, IA today. 'I want to confess to all of you right now. In third grade I wanted to be two things: I wanted to be a cowboy, and I wanted to be Superman.'" And last night at an event in Mason City, IA, Edwards addressed the issue with the same mocking tone. 'I think it's fine to talk about, you know, our records and about issues,' he told the audience. 'But I think we probably ought to stop maybe at age fourteen.' It's a curious change of tune from a candidate whose campaign was responsible for coining the phrases 'Politics of Parsing' and 'Plants for Hillary' in the first half of November. The rhetoric was so heated, in fact, that Edwards was charged with mudslinging by the Clinton campaign."

The Burlington (IA) Hawk Eye (12/4, Miller) reports, "Edwards mocked the bickering of his two closest rivals Monday and suggested he would keep his hands out of the mud, but that didn't keep him from dropping a more than obvious hint to two union-heavy crowds that, in his view, all Democrats are not created equal. He reminded audiences in Fort Madison and Burlington that his party controlled the White House and both chambers of Congress in the 1990s yet still failed to pass a plan for universal health-care coverage. He also noted that the North American Free Trade Act took effect at that time, which he said cost manufacturing jobs in the United States."

Edwards's Third-Grade Ambition: Cowboy Or Superman. The Los Angeles Times (12/3, Fredrick) reported on its 'Top of the Ticket' blog that John Edwards, campaigning in Waterloo, Iowa, poked fun at Sen. Hillary Clinton's attack on Sen. Barack Obama for wanting to be president ever since he was "a third-grader and kindergartner," by saying, "I want to confess to all of you right now -- in third grade, I wanted to be two things: I wanted to be a cowboy, and I wanted to be Superman." The Times muses, "We appreciate his candor. We also imagine his comment is indicative of Edwards' awareness, based on his 2004 presidential campaign, that Iowans often reward the candidates who avoid petty sniping."

Edwards May Benefit From Clinton-Obama Contest. In his Washington Post column (12/4, A21), E.J. Dionne says as the "news about the battle for the Democratic presidential nomination focuses on the increasingly bitter confrontation between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton," John Edwards is "fighting for survival. He knows his fate hinges on a strong showing in the Iowa caucuses that are now less than a month away. He will be out of the race if he runs third." If Edwards fades, "supporters of all three candidates agree, his backers are more likely to drift to Obama than to Clinton. Yet if Edwards gains ground, he could push either Clinton or Obama into third place -- crippling one of them." Edwards, who "was once tougher than Obama in his criticism of Clinton, may now profit as the onlooker in a Clinton-Obama slugfest."

OBAMA SAYS IMMIGRATION REFORM MUST CONSIDER CONCERNS OF U.S. WORKERS. In his column in the Boston Globe (12/4), Derrick Z. Jackson writes about Sen. Barack Obama's comments to the Globe's editorial board Monday about immigration reform, in which he suggested that the best approach would be from an angle that focuses on U.S. workers' plight.

Copyright 2007 by the Bulletin News Network, Inc. Reproduction without permission prohibited. Editorial content is drawn from thousands of newspapers, national magazines, national and local television programs, and radio broadcasts. The Hillary For President News Briefing is published five days a week by BulletinNews, which creates custom news briefings for government and corporate leaders. We can be found on the Web at BulletinNews.com, [email-masked], or called at (703) 749-0040.