Subject: Hillary For President News Briefing for Monday, February 25, 2008
From: "Bulletin News Network" <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked], [email-masked]
Date: 25 Feb 2008 06:34:23 -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: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2008 6:30 AM EST

TODAY'S TABLE OF CONTENTS

SEN. CLINTON'S CAMPAIGN:

+ Clinton Ramps Up Criticism Of Obama In Rhode Island.

+ Obama Criticizes Clinton's Record On NAFTA.

+ McCain, Clinton, Obama All Said To Lack Executive Experience.

+ Clinton Campaign Rhetoric Takes Populist Turn.

+ Obama Supporters Seek To Shut Down Pro-Clinton Ads.

+ Bill Clinton Stumps In Texas.

Sen. Clinton's Campaign:

CLINTON RAMPS UP CRITICISM OF OBAMA IN RHODE ISLAND. NBC Nightly News (2/24, lead story, 3:35, Allen, 9.87M) reported, "Hillary Clinton campaigned in Rhode Island today. A small state that votes in the shadow of Texas and Ohio on March 4th. Clinton began her day facing more speculation her campaign is on its last legs while she went after Barack Obama with sarcasm." Sen. Hillary Clinton: "Now, I could stand up here and say let's just get everybody together. Let's get unified. The sky will open. The light will come down. Celestial choirs will be singing." Allen: "Today Hillary Clinton cast Barack Obama as naive about how difficult it is to get things done in Washington, a different tone from yesterday's outrage."

The Politico (2/25, Frerking, Martin) reports the Clinton, "portrayed in recent press reports as someone reckoning with the probable end of a campaign wasn't in sight Sunday, either on the campaign plane or before thousands of cheering supporters" in Providence, Rhode Island. Both in "her demeanor and her words, the senator from New York - who long enjoyed front-runner status for the Democratic presidential nomination - made it clear she wasn't buying stories describing her campaign as dispirited and demoralized." Clinton "joked with reporters and photographers on the campaign plane, again hammered rival Barack Obama for mailings in Ohio that she said misrepresented her views on health care and NAFTA, and dismissed a Sunday New York Times story that characterized her campaign - and her - as coming to grips with the possibility of losing."

The Washington Times (2/25, DeBose, Bellantoni, 87K) reports Clinton "further upped her criticism of Sen. Barack Obama's soaring rhetoric by accusing him yesterday of posing as a secular messiah who will bring about paradise on Earth." At an "arena rally at the Rhode Island College Recreation Center, Mrs. Clinton drew big laughs and thunderous applause with an impassioned criticism of Mr. Obama's 'misleading' campaign mailings, and she borrowed heavily from religious imagery and language."

The Providence (RI) Journal (2/25, Arsenault, MacKay) reports that in comments in Providence, RI, Sen. Hillary Clinton "mocked [Sen. Barack Obama's] calls for consensus building, and asked Rhode Islanders yesterday to consider her experience when hiring a candidate 'for the hardest job in the world.'" The Journal notes that Clinton's string of primary defeats intensifies her desire to win in March 4 states, noting that "In an interview with The Journal yesterday, Hillary Clinton would not agree that Texas and Ohio are do-or-die contests for her, but she acknowledged that 'we have to do very well.' She said her campaign had 'about nine days left to get some wins on the scoreboard, and these are the next states up.'"

Clinton Reassures Donors On Campaign's Prospects. The AP (2/25, Fouhy) reports that in an attempt to "reassure anxious donors, Hillary Rodham Clinton on Sunday outlined a road map she said she will follow to beat Barack Obama in the Ohio and Texas primaries March 4." Clinton "insisted that her campaign is on track and moving forward, despite losing 11 contests to Obama since Feb. 5." Clinton said, "I am very optimistic and extremely positive about what we're doing as we go forward in these states [Ohio and Texas.]" The AP adds Clinton "pledged to continue to stress her differences with Obama on issues including universal health care, and said she will step up her criticism of the Illinois senator's lack of experience in public life." Clinton "told several hundred supporters who had paid at least $500 to attend a Boston fundraiser," "We're going to emphasize more and more the experience gap. You'll hear a lot about it the next eight days."

The CBS Evening News (2/24, story 2, 2:20, Cordes, 7.66M) reported, "While Obama campaigned in Ohio today, Clinton focused on fund-raising. She was outspent by Obama five to one on ads in Wisconsin. Today she is out to gin up more cash in Rhode Island and Boston." Clinton: "I need your help, to talk to your friends and your neighbors."

Clinton Calls Chafee's Criticism Of Iraq War Vote "Revisionist History." The Providence (RI) Journal (2/25, Arsenault) reports that in a Journal interview, Clinton responded to criticisms in former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee's forthcoming book that Clinton's vote to authorize force in Iraq "should be a career-ending lapse in judgment." "'I'm not going to contradict his personal opinion,' Clinton said. 'That's certainly his to hold. But I think there's a lot of revisionist history going on here. At the time, it was very clear that we were hoping to rein in Saddam Hussein and determine what, if any, remaining weapons of mass destruction he had. Because the facts are, he had them when we went in after the first Gulf war.' Clinton said she supported the threat of force to compel Saddam to accept inspections, and blames President Bush for abusing the authority extended by the resolution. 'It was a sincere vote by me at the time, and if I had known what he would do with the vote, I would not have voted for it.'"

OBAMA CRITICIZES CLINTON'S RECORD ON NAFTA. The AP (2/25, Espo) reports Barack Obama "accused" Sen. Hillary Clinton yesterday "of trying to walk away from a long record of support for NAFTA, the free trade agreement that he said has cost 50,000 jobs in Ohio, site of next week's primary." Still, he said "attempts to repeal the trade deal 'would probably result in more job losses than job gains in the United States.'" One day "after Clinton angrily accused him of distorting her record on the North American Free Trade Agreement in mass mailings, the Illinois senator was eager to rekindle the long-distance debate, using passages from the former first lady's book as well as her own words."

The CBS Evening News (2/24, story 2, 2:20, Cordes, 7.66M) reported, "The quarrel Senator Clinton started yesterday over Obama's negative mailers...flared up again today when Obama was asked if it is fair to attack Clinton for legislation like NAFTA signed into law by her husband." Obama said, "The notion that you can selectively pick what you take credit for, and then run away from what isn't politically convenient, that doesn't make sense."

ABC World News (2/24, story 2, 2:50, Tapper, 8.78M) reported, "Obama is trying to chip away at Senator Clinton's lead here in Ohio by attacking her for the NAFTA trade deal. A big part of her legacy that's very unpopular with union members. It's just one of the many ways Bill Clinton, who was supposed to be such an asset for his wife's campaign, into a liability. Why is Barack Obama attacking Clinton on NAFTA? Union households comprise a quarter of Democratic voters here in Ohio, and many of them think NAFTA signed into law by President Bill Clinton cost them jobs."

NBC Nightly News (2/24, lead story, 3:35, Allen, 9.87M) reported, "Clinton said she was personally offended by Obama campaign mailers which charge her health care plan forces poor people to buy premiums, and she supports the NAFTA trade deal blamed in Ohio for shifting jobs overseas. But Obama's terse pushback." Sen. Barack Obama: "These are accurate." Allen: "Is perhaps another example of Clinton's difficulty of knocking Obama off stride. And that's apparently taking its toll on her team."

NBC Nightly News (2/24, story 2, 2:35, Cowan, 9.87M) reported, "There's a subtle new argument that Barack Obama has been using on the campaign trail, not only here in Ohio but also in Texas that's starting to get tracks. He says it's not so much what Hillary Clinton says about him by way the criticism but what she's implying about the supporters, that he says, should get them riled up. At a wallboard plant outside Cleveland this morning it was about economic specifics for Barack Obama, especially NAFTA and whom he thinks is to blame." Obama: "But let's be clear, it was her husband who got NAFTA passed. In her own book, Senator Clinton called NAFTA one of Bill's successes and legislative victories." Cowan: "Using her own words against her has proven fertile ground for him of late, especially as he tries to rebut Hillary's Clinton's claim that he's all talk and no action."

The Wall Street Journal (2/25, Chozick, Timiraos, 2.06M) reports while Obama "focuses his economic talks on criticizing the North American Free Trade Agreement, implemented during the presidency of Bill Clinton, Sen. Hillary Clinton is struggling to stay in the race by presenting herself as the candidate who can solve the housing crisis." Both issues "run deep in Ohio, which has lost more than 200,000 manufacturing jobs since 2000 and saw 150,000 homes go into foreclosure last year, one of the highest rates in the country." Polls of "likely voters had recently shown Sen. Clinton leading in Ohio by double digits, but that lead is diminishing as the March 4 primary approaches. A new poll conducted by Rasmussen puts Sen. Clinton ahead in Ohio with 48%, compared with 40% for Sen. Obama."

MCCAIN, CLINTON, OBAMA ALL SAID TO LACK EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE. USA Today (2/25, 1A, Page, 2.28M) reports in a front-page story sub-titled, "None of the top three contenders for president has ever run a government or a business. The question now: How much does that really matter?," Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Republican John McCain "all boast about their preparation and credentials for the Oval Office - and their ability to, as Clinton has called it, be 'ready on Day One to solve our problems.'" But the "three leading contenders for president have less executive grounding than anyone elected to the White House in nearly a half-century. Each candidate has scored impressive achievements in life, but none has run a city or state, a small business or large corporation - or any bureaucracy larger than their Senate staffs and campaign teams."

CLINTON CAMPAIGN RHETORIC TAKES POPULIST TURN. The Washington Post (2/25, A1, Bacon, MacGillis, 723K) reports in a front page story that Hillary Clinton "increasingly sounds like one of her old Democratic rivals, former senator John Edwards of North Carolina. Eager to recapture the white, working-class voters who favored her in some of the early primaries but who have since shifted to Sen. Barack Obama, Clinton traded her usual wonky style this weekend for a fiery, populist tone in speeches in Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island." Instead of "giving precise policy details, she repeatedly pointed her finger skyward, declared that Americans 'got shafted under President Bush' and cast herself as a fighter, as Edwards often described himself, promising to help most Americans, not just the 'wealthy and the connected.'" In an appearance in Providence on Sunday afternoon, "she mocked Obama's hopeful rhetoric, declaring that it is not the answer to fighting entrenched interests."

OBAMA SUPPORTERS SEEK TO SHUT DOWN PRO-CLINTON ADS. The Wall Street Journal (2/25, Mullins, Farnam, 2.06M) reports a "fight over political spending by outside groups flared up over the weekend when backers of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama sought to shut down a round of television advertisements launched by supporters of rival Sen. Hillary Clinton." Obama supporters "mailed a complaint to the Federal Election Commission charging that the organization funding the advertisements lauding Mrs. Clinton is violating election law." The issue concerned the "complicated rules for spending by outside political organizations on elections -- and an effort by one such group to spend millions on advertisements that praise Mrs. Clinton before primaries next week in Texas and Ohio." Subodh Chandra, "a lawyer in Ohio and a backer of Mr. Obama, says the new organization allows Mrs. Clinton's backers to 'cheat the system' by paying for their own ads for Mrs. Clinton even through they have already donated the maximum $2,300 allowed by law to her campaign."

BILL CLINTON STUMPS IN TEXAS. The AP (2/25) reports that former President Bill Clinton, speaking in Arlington, TX, portrayed his wife Sunday as a pragmatic leader and her opponent in the Democratic presidential primary as too inexperienced to handle the job. 'Should we make a new beginning with somebody not involved in either the problems of this decade or the progress of last?' Clinton said to a crowd of more than 1,000 people at a community center. 'Or should we make a new beginning with a change-maker who knows when to compromise and when to stand' for her principles, Clinton said."

The Dallas Morning News (2/25, Levinthal, 432K) reports that former President Clinton "said his wife would help lead the country back to economic prosperity it enjoyed during much of the last decade, when he was president for eight years. Federal budgets would again be balanced and even run surpluses, Mr. Clinton said. He also made passing mention to his federal health care reform efforts of 1993, which Mrs. Clinton as first lady spearheaded. Those efforts failed. Now health care reform is a cornerstone issue of her campaign. 'This is not the time for the Democratic Party to walk away from a cause we've embraced,' Mr. Clinton said, arguing that his wife is the only candidate who would provide truly universal health care."

Chelsea Clinton Visits Two Houston Churches. The Houston Chronicle (2/25, Hanson, 524K) reports, "The morning after she accompanied her mother," Sen. Hillary Clinton, "to a last-minute campaign event in Houston, Chelsea Clinton on Sunday visited two churches here, shaking hands with well-wishers and posing for photographs but making no campaign speeches." Chelsea Clinton "chatted with dozens of people after she left the 11 a.m. Spanish-language Mass at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, near the Houston Ship Channel. Earlier Sunday morning, she attended Mass at Christ, the Incarnate Word Catholic Church in southwest Houston."

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, [email-masked], or called at (703) 749-0040.