Subject: Hillary For President News Briefing for Monday, June 09, 2008
From: "Bulletin News Network" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: 9 Jun 2008 06:32:39 -0400

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

TO: CLINTON CAMPAIGN

DATE: MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2008 6:30 AM EDT

TODAY'S TABLE OF CONTENTS

SEN. CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN:

+ Depth Of Clinton Supporters' Commitment To Obama Called Dubious.

+ Feinstein Touts Clinton As VP Candidate, Says Senator Won Popular Vote.

+ Rangel Lauds Clinton's Concession Speech.

+ Clinton Will Aid Obama's Efforts In Kentucky.

+ Clinton's Evolution As Candidate Noted.

+ Campaign Seen As Hurting Clintons' Legacy.

+ Obama Supporters Ready To Blame Clinton If Campaign Results In Loss.

Sen. Clinton's Campaign:

DEPTH OF CLINTON SUPPORTERS' COMMITMENT TO OBAMA CALLED DUBIOUS. The Wall Street Journal (6/8, Davis, 2.07M, 2.06M) reports with Hillary Clinton "out of the presidential race, questions linger over how soon and how sincerely her campaign and her supporters will rally behind likely Democratic nominee Barack Obama." Clinton "offered a sweeping farewell address Saturday in Washington, where she pledged full-throated support for her one-time rival and asked the nearly 18 million voters who supported her in the primary race to do the same." A spokesman for Obama "said Sunday that there was nothing yet scheduled for Sen. Clinton, or former President Bill Clinton, to do on the Illinois senator's behalf." On CBS's Face The Nation, Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson said, "She's willing to do whatever she can, whatever she's asked. And I'm sure President Clinton feels the same way." The Journal adds while Wolfson "reiterated that Sen. Clinton isn't campaigning for vice president, she hasn't said she would refuse an offer." A "handful of efforts continue to encourage Sen. Clinton to take the nomination fight to the convention floor in Denver, in August, although she has disavowed such moves."

McClatchy (6/9, Stearns) reports "several of the hundreds gathered" in Washington for Hillary Clinton's concession speech "said they thought that unfair news coverage" from sources such as MSNBC's Chris Matthew and Keith Olbermann "helped Illinois Sen. Barack Obama win the Democratic presidential nomination." Other "common culprits were the Democratic National Committee and the party superdelegates, who helped swing the nomination to Obama in the last few weeks."

USA Today (6/8, Moore, 2.28M) reports Obama "at last has won the endorsement of Hillary Rodham Clinton," and now "he has to win over her millions of female supporters." Obama has "said he will stress the differences between himself and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, especially on issues such as health care, judicial appointments and abortion rights. Obama campaign spokeswoman Linda Douglass says female voters will respond to Obama's life in a 'female-centric' family, as he discusses the influences of his mother, grandmother, wife and mother-in-law." The gender gap "in the primaries wasn't anti-Obama, she says, but pro-Clinton. '"I don't think it was about him, it was about her.'" USA adds groups "such as NARAL Pro-Choice America, which endorsed the Illinois senator last month, will also help." NARAL president Nancy Keenan said the group "plans to spend $10 million in the presidential and congressional elections this year."

FEINSTEIN TOUTS CLINTON AS VP CANDIDATE, SAYS SENATOR WON POPULAR VOTE. The Politico (6/8, Grim) reported on its website that California Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D), a supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton "during the primary campaign, reiterated on ABC's 'This Week' that Clinton had won the popular vote - an assertion that is not accepted by" Sen. Barack Obama's campaign "and one that, if repeated often, could harm Democratic attempts to unify behind him. 'Hillary Clinton is well known, certainly she had the popular vote in this election,' she said, according to a transcript. 'That is something and that is something tremendous. Now, I believe the [vice presidential] nomination is up to him. I can't tell him what to do. Nobody else can tell him what to do. All I can say is I agree with [Pennsylvania Gov.] Ed Rendell, that if you really want a winning ticket, this is it."

The Los Angeles Times (5/8, Hoffecker, 833K) reported on its 'Top of the Ticket' blog that during her appearance on "This Week," Feinstein "put her hopes for the Democratic ticket this way: 'I've looked at every other possible candidate. No one brings to a ticket what Hillary brings: 18 million people committed to where she's going. ... if you really want a winning ticket, this is it.' She reiterated her support for an Obama-Clinton ticket on CNN's 'Late Edition': 'I think there are 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling that say, yes, do it." The New York Daily News (6/9, Sisk, 729K) headlines its report, "Hillary Clinton sees new push to pick her for vice president."

RANGEL LAUDS CLINTON'S CONCESSION SPEECH. The Politico (6/8, Grim) reported on its website that during an appearance on CBS' "Face The Nation," Rep. Charles Rangel (D), "a strong" supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, "said that he was 'more than pleased' with her speech endorsing" Sen. Barack Obama "on Saturday and said it may 'go down in history as one of the best political speeches we've had.' As to her spot on the ticket, Rangel said while decision was up to Obama, his 'personal view' is that 'it's an absolutely unbeatable ticket.'" Rangel is quoted as saying, "I may feel awkward that I was a little impatient in terms of her not endorsing on the night we knew that Obama was the nominee, but in seeing how great that speech was, I don't know whether emotionally she would have been prepared to have given such an exciting, overwhelming speech which I think will go down in history as one of the best political speeches we've had."

CLINTON WILL AID OBAMA'S EFFORTS IN KENTUCKY. The Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader (6/9, Alessi) reports that Sen. Hillary Clinton is "expected to campaign for nominee Barack Obama this fall in Kentucky, which she won in last month's primary by 35 percentage points. 'Yes, Senator Clinton will come back and be a part of the Kentucky political process and will do whatever she can, whether it's visiting Kentucky or calling her donors and supporters to ask them to do what it takes to make sure Senator Obama is elected,' said Jonathan Hurst, the Clinton campaign's Kentucky political director." Obama begins "the general election race in Kentucky with a huge mountain to climb. A Herald-Leader/WKYT poll last month showed him trailing Republican John McCain by 25 points in the fall campaign. Last week, a SurveyUSA poll of 400 Clinton supporters in Kentucky revealed that they would be more than twice as likely to support Obama if Clinton were his No. 2. Just 21 percent of the Kentucky-based Clinton backers interviewed said they plan to vote for Obama, but that jumped to 57 percent if Clinton joined the ticket."

CLINTON'S EVOLUTION AS CANDIDATE NOTED. ABC World News (6/8, story 8, 1:50, Harper, 8.78M) reported, "When she formally announced her campaign for the presidency in January of 2007, Hillary Clinton had name recognition, money, and momentum. It was widely believed that the nomination was hers to lose. So, Clinton kept her guard up and kept us reporters at arm's length." But by "the time she got to Puerto Rico, the reserved and guarded candidate, Clinton, was nowhere to be found. Replaced by a loose and care-free campaigner, who had won four out of the last seven contests."

CAMPAIGN SEEN AS HURTING CLINTONS' LEGACY. Under the headline, "Campaign May Leave Blot On Clinton Legacy," the New York Times (6/8, Broder, Toner, 1.12M, 1.18M) reports while Bill and Hillary Clinton "will almost certainly play a continuing role in the nation's political life, and Mrs. Clinton could yet emerge as this year's vice presidential nominee, a major chapter in their vertiginous public biography was closed when Mrs. Clinton conceded the Democratic presidential nomination to Senator Barack Obama over the weekend. Their complicated legacy is all the more complicated now." Through a "series of blunders and the appearance of a once-in-a-lifetime opponent, Mrs. Clinton saw the prize slip through her grasp despite a valiant personal effort that lasted through the final contests in South Dakota and Montana." Both Clintons "often seemed out of touch with the political times - cautious when they should have been bold, negative when they should have been inspirational. Exquisitely attuned to the political winds in 1992, they watched Mr. Obama almost effortlessly ride the wave in 2008." Bill Clinton's "conduct during the campaign on his wife's behalf, right up to a blistering tirade against a magazine writer last week, raised new questions about his judgment and blotted his legacy."

OBAMA SUPPORTERS READY TO BLAME CLINTON IF CAMPAIGN RESULTS IN LOSS. The Politico (6/9, Adler) reports that in "classic Washington finger-pointing style, the Democratic primary is only barely over but the recriminations are already being teed up." The "main thrust of them is this: Will supporters of Sen. Barack Obama blame Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton if Obama loses in November?" While the "point might eventually prove moot, her decision to remain in the race well past the point in which Obama appeared to have an insurmountable delegate lead has nevertheless generated discussion about what responsibility, if any, she might bear in the event of an Obama loss." Alexandra Acker, executive director of the Young Democrats of America, said, "If the Democrats don't win the White House back this fall there will be a hard core contingent of young Obama supporters who will be extremely disappointed. They will be looking for someone to blame and some may look to the long primary." The Politico adds Democratic strategists, "elected officials and political analysts interviewed by Politico agreed that any debate that surfaces over her culpability will be colored by how hard Clinton works to heal the rift between now and Election Day."

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