Subject: Hillary For President News Briefing for Friday, June 06, 2008
From: "Bulletin News Network" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: 6 Jun 2008 06:30:04 -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: FRIDAY, JUNE 6, 2008 6:30 AM EDT

TODAY'S TABLE OF CONTENTS

SEN. CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN:

+ Clinton, Obama Meet In Washington.

+ Clinton Backs Off VP Push.

+ Obama Expected To Help Clinton Retire Campaign Debt.

+ Clinton's Next Move Pondered.

+ Rangel A Key Impetus For Clinton To Leave Race.

+ Analysis Suggests Clinton Would Beat McCain, Obama Would Not.

+ Obama Woos Clinton Supporters In Southwest Virginia.

+ McCain Reaches Out To Clinton Voters.

Sen. Clinton's Campaign:

CLINTON, OBAMA MEET IN WASHINGTON. The Los Angeles Times (6/6, Barabak, Levey, 833K) reports Barack Obama met Thursday night with Hillary Clinton "after she backed away from efforts to push her into the No. 2 slot on the Democratic ticket, easing pressure on the presumptive presidential nominee and freeing him to consolidate his grip on the party." An aide to Obama "confirmed the tete-a-tete, the first between the two senators since he clinched the Democratic nomination Tuesday after a 16-month campaign." Clinton plans to "quit the race at an event Saturday and endorse her formal rival." In "another sign of cooperation, Clinton spoke with her major donors and urged them to start raising money for Obama and for the Democratic National Committee, which has lagged far behind its Republican counterpart in contributions."

The Washington Post (6/6, A4, Weisman, Murray, 696K, 723K) reports after a "day spent campaigning across Virginia, Obama delayed a trip home to Chicago last night to visit Clinton at the Washington home of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a senior Democratic source said. Campaign aides would not comment on the meeting, but on the eve of Clinton's expected departure from the race it was seen as a reconciliation gesture to the senator from New York and her millions of disappointed supporters." With Clinton "set to formally suspend her campaign tomorrow, party leaders stepped up efforts to unify Democrats after a grueling and historic battle. New York's 23-member Democratic delegation in the House -- among them some of the most stalwart Clinton backers -- collectively endorsed Obama as the Democratic nominee, pledging to return to their districts this weekend and work to sway Clinton voters to embrace him as well."

CLINTON BACKS OFF VP PUSH. ABC World News (6/5, story 2, 1:50, Snow, 8.78M) reported Sen. Hillary Clinton's "spokesman said she's not seeking the vice presidency, and that she wishes that some of her supporters would stop talking so much about this. That choice, said the spokesman, is [Sen. Barack] Obama's, and his alone."

The CBS Evening News (6/5, story 2, 1:15, Couric, 7.66M) reported, "A senior Clinton staffer told CBS News the VP choice is Barack Obama's and his alone, and, quote, she will do whatever she's asked to do, but the ball is in his court. Obama said today he still hasn't spoken to Clinton. She plans to endorse him on Saturday. As for Bill Clinton, Obama was asked if he plans to call on the former president to help him win in November." Sen. Barack Obama: "Yes and yes. I think Bill Clinton is an enormous talent, and I would welcome him campaigning for me."

NBC Nightly News (6/5, story 5, 2:20, Mitchell, 9.87M) reported, "Today, the Democratic rivals also tried to calm down speculation about a dream ticket. They've only chatted face-to-face briefly yesterday, captured by 'Time' magazine and that was before Clinton yielded to pressure from her own supporters to get out of the race."

CNN's The Situation Room (6/5, Crowley) interviewed Obama. Asked if he "had to put" Hillary Clinton "on the ticket," Obama said, "I have nothing but respect for Senator Clinton and what she's going to contribute to the party. And I'm also confident we're going to be unified in November. What I've also said is the vice presidency is the most important decision that I'll make before I'm president. And it's something that I take very seriously. ... I will meet with a range of people, and I'll ultimately make a decision. Senator Clinton would be on anybody's short list."

CNN's The Situation Room (6/5, Malveaux) reported, "It really is amazing what a difference a day makes. Yesterday, you had some Democrats, they were openly critical of Hillary Clinton's delay in recognizing Barack Obama's win. Now, many are afraid that they've revealed a weakness to the Republicans. And now they're singing from the same page, trying to present a picture of unity."

Fox News Channel's Special Report (6/5, Garrett) reported, "Obama's vanquished rival, Hillary Clinton, secluded in her Washington home, released a statement that for the first time acknowledged Obama's choice of a running mate was his business, not hers." It was "the first step in what many Democrats see as a path of redemption Clinton must walk to unify the party and heal the wounds inflicted by her failure to acknowledge Obama's historic nomination victory on Tuesday, an admission even Clinton loyalist say has taken a toll."

The New York Times (6/6, Zeleny, Nagourney, 1.12M, 1.18M) reports Barack Obama "moved forcefully into the general election on Thursday, placing his stamp on the Democratic Party apparatus and holding a private nighttime meeting with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in an effort to unify Democrats." A day after "her campaign said she would end her quest for the presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton disavowed an effort by her supporters to pressure Mr. Obama into choosing her as his running mate. She said that they were acting on their own and that the decision was 'Senator Obama's and his alone.'" The meeting "between the two former rivals in Washington was initiated by Mrs. Clinton after Mr. Obama spent the day in Virginia, a state symbolic of his efforts to expand the Democratic reach."

OBAMA EXPECTED TO HELP CLINTON RETIRE CAMPAIGN DEBT. The AP (6/6, Fouhy) reports Hillary Clinton "will likely seek help from Obama in retiring her massive campaign debt, which has swollen to more than $30 million, including $11 million she lent the effort, advisers said Thursday." Clinton "told donors she will raise money for Obama's campaign, both to help the Democratic Party's cash position and to expand the Illinois senator's prodigious fundraising base. Her advisers estimate the former first lady could bring in $50 million to $100 million for the general election campaign - and much more if she were named Obama's running mate."

CLINTON'S NEXT MOVE PONDERED. The Los Angeles Times (6/6, Braun, McManus, 833K) reports after Hillary Clinton's "own friends stepped in to nudge her to cede the spotlight to Obama, Clinton must change roles again, from tenacious underdog to presumably gracious loser. That transition could start Saturday, as Clinton holds a Washington event to thank her supporters and rally them around Obama. Then she must begin the sober task of charting a post-campaign career." Though her "next chapter could include a role as Obama's running mate," it will "more likely...mean a return to the Senate, even more prominent than she was before, to work on healthcare and other issues she has long championed. And she may well begin preparing for another run for president -- in 2012 if Obama loses this fall, in 2016 if he wins."

No Special Senate Leadership Position Being Created For Clinton. The Hill (6/6, Raju) reports that despite speculation that the Democratic Senate leadership might "carve out a special position" for Clinton to console her and her supporters over her failure to win the Democratic presidential nomination, "such a position has not been considered. 'Nobody has discussed that, the least of which Sen. Clinton,' said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), a high-profile Obama supporter. 'She's not asking for that consideration at this point.' 'We don't have a special position, we haven't created that for anyone,' Senate Democratic Conference Secretary Patty Murray (Wash.), a Clinton supporter, said of candidates who have returned to the Senate after running for president." The Hill notes that such positions have been created in the past, but suggests that such speculation is premature in Clinton's case.

ABC News (6/5, Wolf) reported on its "Political Radar" blog that when Clinton returns to the Senate, she'll "go from being one of the two most important Democrats in the country to being Senator #68 of 100 (#37 among Democrats). Her colleagues in the Senate leadership who had endorsed her Presidential candidacy said today she would be welcomed back to the Senate with open arms (as have the other two Democrats who already dropped out of the Presidential race to return to the Senate this year). But they won't be creating a special spot in the Senate leadership for her."

RANGEL A KEY IMPETUS FOR CLINTON TO LEAVE RACE. The Politico (6/6, Parnes, Zenilman, Smith) reports, "In the end, the same man who ushered Hillary Clinton into electoral politics nine years ago pushed her out." On Wednesday, Clinton "was asking supporters to wait – it was unclear for what - and to give her time to gather her thoughts. Many seemed willing to accede to the request, but Charles Rangel, the blunt, 77-year-old dean of New York's congressional delegation, had had enough." In "public statements and on a crucial afternoon conference call, he told Clinton it was time to go. And Rangel, for reasons of state politics, personal history, and race, was not a man Clinton could afford to ignore."

ANALYSIS SUGGESTS CLINTON WOULD BEAT MCCAIN, OBAMA WOULD NOT. In a New York Times (6/6, 1.12M, 1.18M) op-ed, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson says before Hillary Clinton suspends her presidential campaign, "Mrs. Clinton and the superdelegates might want to know this: if the general election were held today, Barack Obama would lose to John McCain, while Mr. McCain would lose to Mrs. Clinton." This conclusion "comes not from wishful thinking but from a new method of analysis on the statistics of polls that has been accepted for publication in the journal Mathematical and Computer Modeling." Conducted by astrophysicists J. Richard Gott III of Princeton and Wes Colley of the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the analysis shows that in "swing states, the median result of all the polls conducted in the weeks prior to an election is an especially effective predictor of which candidate will win that election - even in states where the polls consistently fall within the margin of error." Based on the method, if the "general election were held today, Mr. Obama would win 252 electoral votes as the Democratic nominee, while Mrs. Clinton would win 295. In other words, Barack Obama is losing to John McCain, and Hillary Clinton is beating him." This analysis "does not predict what will happen in November. But it describes the present better than any other known method does."

OBAMA WOOS CLINTON SUPPORTERS IN SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. The Wall Street Journal (6/5, Calmes, 2.07M, 2.06M) reports on the "first full day after Hillary Clinton signaled their rivalry was over, Barack Obama campaigned in Bristol, Va., on the Tennessee border, wasting no time reaching out to the sort of rural and small-town white voters who shunned him in the Democratic primary -- and who he will need in November." Obama was "there Thursday with former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat known for his success among moderate-to-conservative, noncollege-educated voters." Obama strategist David Axelrod said, "We believe the economy is a big key to reaching working-class voters who've been basically victimized by these economic policies, or certainly neglected by them." The Journal adds that in a "town-hall event at Bristol's Virginia High School, Sen. Obama focused on providing universal health care; Sen. McCain has proposed initiatives to lower health-care and insurance costs, but not to provide universal coverage."

ABC World News (6/5, lead story, 3:00, Wright, 8.78M) reported, "Obama's appearance here today is a signal he plans to contest this state in the fall." As both candidates "emphasize their appeal to independents, the electoral map is expected to change. Not just traditional battlegrounds like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Florida but also newcomers, including Colorado and Virginia." David Chalian, ABC News political director: "Due to Barack Obama losing Ohio and Pennsylvania in the primary season, the McCain team sees opportunity there. But Obama is looking elsewhere. Out west in Colorado. Down south in Virginia to help expand the map."

NBC Nightly News (6/5, story 5, 2:20, Mitchell, 9.87M) reported, "Clearly enjoying his new status, Barack Obama headed south." Sen. Barack Obama: "I stand before you as the Democratic nominee." Mitchell: "Trying to make history with white blue collar voters in Appalachia, rural Virginia bordering North Carolina and Tennessee." Obama: "Now just winning the nomination is not the end point. The end point isn't even winning the general election. The end point is making your lives better." Mitchell: "Reaching out to disappointed Clinton supporters."

USA Today (6/6, 1A, Kiely, 2.28M) reports in a front page story that Obama is "targeting the voters he had the hardest time winning in the primaries: those who are white and working class." Obama "told USA TODAY Thursday that his appearance here in a small town on the Virginia-Tennessee border represented the first stop in a 2½-week tour about economic issues. The trip will also take him to several states won by his rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, during the Democratic primaries, including Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida." Obama said, "What we're going to do over the next 2½ weeks is focus on the economy, which is what is pressing on the American people so severely." During the tour, "he said he plans to 'offer some very concrete solutions as to how we deal with both the short-term squeeze that (working-class Americans are) under and how over the long term we right the economic ship.'"

The Washington Post (6/6, A1, Mack, 696K, 723K) reports in a front page story that Obama "launched his general election campaign for president in Virginia yesterday, rolling up his sleeves and rallying families, college students and people playing hooky from work to help him 'win this election and change the course of history.'" Obama "drew more than 10,000 people to a late afternoon rally at Nissan Pavilion and spent the morning courting voters in coal country at a town hall meeting in southwest Virginia." He "delivered his standard stump speech at both campaign stops, but the events were weighted with significance, a reminder of one of his biggest primary wins and his determination to compete in Virginia and other traditional Republican strongholds in November." At the Nissan event, Obama was joined by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and Sen. James Webb.

MCCAIN REACHES OUT TO CLINTON VOTERS. John McCain campaigned in Florida on Thursday, where he was seen as implementing a strategy to win over core supporters of Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful Democratic campaign. The Washington Post (6/5, A4, Shear, Cohen, 696K, 723K) reports McCain "envisions a November victory built in part around attracting a large number of the millions of voters who turned away from Sen. Barack Obama's promise of change during the historic Democratic primary campaign." Buoyed by polls "showing a quarter or more" of Clinton's supporters "planning to back McCain, his advisers have already started wooing the white working-class voters and women who made up the bedrock of her coalition. They plan to echo and expand the former first lady's critiques of Obama: that he is out of touch with Middle America and too unseasoned to be president."

ABC World News (6/5, story 6, 4:25, Gibson, 8.78M) interviewed John McCain. Asked what "the biggest obstacle that you face to getting elected" is, McCain said, "I think energizing Independents and the Reagan Democrats, both old and new, to have a look and see if they can understand that I'm the best qualified to serve. I think that's we're going to be in the kind of a presidential campaign where the Independents, Reagan Democrats would be the reason I win."

ABC World News (6/5, lead story, 3:00, Wright, 8.78M) reported, "Today, John McCain planted his flag in Florida, addressing newspaper editors there. McCain seemed to reach across the aisle, courting Hillary Clinton voters." Sen. John McCain: "I'm proud of the fact that Hillary Clinton, Senator Clinton, inspired a generation of young women. As a father of three daughters, I congratulate her."

Copyright 2008 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, or called at (703) 483-6100.