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Wednesday, June 6, 2007
A long day for Michelle Obama
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As much as she can, Michelle Obama tries to structure her campaign stops for her husband so that she gets home every night to be with their two children. Some days are harder than others.
On Wednesday, she arose at 4 a.m. in Chicago, got Malia, who turns 9 next month, and Sasha, who turns six on Sunday, up at 5:30, had breakfast and dropped them off with a neighbor before heading to O’Hare for a flight to Atlanta.
This wasn’t going to be her last stop of the day, so she didn’t expect to make it back on this day before the girls went to bed. But she’s determined to keep homelife as normal as possible, even as the campaign picks up in intensity.
“We’ve started thinking about strategies, striking that balance so that both of us aren’t away from the kids at the same time,” Obama said. “That’s something that Barack and I committed to, coming into this thing.”
In addition to being a mother and campaign wife, Obama is the vice president for external affairs for the University of Chicago hospitals. Her brother is the men’s basketball coach at Brown University.
They grew up in Southside Chicago, the children of a stationary fireman at the city water filtration plant and a stay-at-home mom. It’s a background she said has given her a common set of values with her husband.
“We’re both from working-class Midwestern households,” she said.
That ideal of giving your children a better life is one that plays heavily in the Obama campaign message that his generation is in danger of potentially “handing over a country to our children and grandchildren that’s a little bit poorer and a little bit mean than the one we got.
Obama drew more than 600 women to a $250-a-plate fundraiser at the Depot, followed by a rally with student supporters.
At the lunch, she stressed the importance of the early contests, which in this part of the country means South Carolina and Florida. It’s a point that was also emphasized at her husband’s big rally here earlier this year.
With the race shaping up as a short sprint, that’s kind of an obvious point, but it’s one Obama’s troops seem particularly concerned about. He’s made huge strides in the polls and fundraising, but you get the sense his campaign doesn’t want to get caught short before his supporters get the chance to impact the process.
So far, she said, the crowds and the enthusiasm for her husband haven’t died down.
“That’s what’s been most amazing to us. There’s this hunger out there,” she said. “At every event I meet at least four or five people who’ve never voted before, never written a check. This campaign is tapping into a whole layer of people who have never felt a reason to engage.”
Notes and mutterings from Georgia blogs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Updated at 8:39 p.m. Wednesday with paragraph at bottom Michelle Obama, wife of Barack, drew some 600 women to a fund-raiser for her husband’s Democratic presidential campaign in downtown Atlanta this afternoon, we’re told. Price was $250 a head.
We’ll have details for you later in the day.
In the meantime, Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John, was in Savannah and Macon Tuesday, on a similar mission. Blogger Amy Morton has beaucoup details, but be aware that she helped plan the event in Macon, and is not disinterested.
Blog for Democracy pushed out the first photos of the Edwards event in Macon, including a photo of former lieutenant governor Mark Taylor shaking hands with newbie U.S. Senate candidate Dale Cardwell.
But the text focuses on a wild rumor that was said to be wafting through the fund-raiser — that Taylor is considering a ’08 run for the U.S. Senate.
We haven’t talked to Taylor, but we’ve got to throw cold water on this one.
When you’re a neophyte running for a U.S. Senate seat, you make phone calls to all and sundry figures that might be competition. Any one of them could crush you.
We know Cardwell called former Gov. Roy Barnes. Probably Columbus attorney Jim Butler and U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall as well. And, we presume, both Taylor and Cathy Cox, Taylor’s Democratic rival in the ’06 gubernatorial contest.
But we’ve checked out another rumor, and it is in fact true. Tondee’s Tavern was the first to report that Cardwell voted Republican in the July 2006 primary.
The records bear that out. Our researchers tell us that Cardwell voted in five Democratic primaries from 2000 to 2004. But last year, he voted in the Republican primary and the primary run-off.
Which means he didn’t have a horse in the nasty Taylor-Cox race that tore other Democrats apart.
We’ve got a call into the Cardwell campaign.
Addendum: Emil Runge, a spokesman for the Cardwell campaign, said Cardwell had a particular reason for voting in the July 2006 Republican primary.
“Like many Democrats, Dale voted in the Republican primary to cast a ballot against Ralph Reed,” Runge said.
Barr says the REAL ID requirement in immigration bill won’t fly
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last month, former Georgia congressman Bob Barr chastised those passing too-quick judgment on the immigration reform effort now going on in Washington.
But on Wednesday, he announced that he’d found something objectionable “hidden deep within the massive bill.”
The legislation, he said, would require use of the REAL ID — a drivers license that can serve as a national identification card, approved by Congress in 2005. States have until the end of 2009 to issue them. Barr and other civil liberty activists say a nationalized ID raises the specter of a broad invasion of privacy by the government.
But with the immigration reform bill, Barr said, the ID would become “one of only two forms of identification a U.S. citizen could use lawfully to obtain or retain employment; the only other being a passport.
Barr wants that provision out. He’s written “key members” of the Senate — i.e., Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss.
“No America citizen should have to prove to a government entity who they are in order to obtain or retain employment,” he said.
Complete statement is on the jump.
Atlanta, GA, - Former Congressman Bob Barr, who has offered general support for the Immigration Bill currently pending in the U.S. Senate, has taken strong exception to a particular section hidden deep within the massive bill that requires the use of a REAL ID.
The REAL ID Act was passed by Congress in 2005 and, once it takes full effect in two years, would mandate that all state drivers’ licenses adhere to federal standards in order to be accepted for any “federal purpose,” such as airline travel, obtaining federal benefits or access to any federal facility.
Under the provision in the immigration reform bill, a REAL ID Act-compliant driver’s license would be one of only two forms of identification a U.S. citizen could use lawfully to obtain or retain employment; the only other being a passport.
Barr has now written to key members of the U.S. Senate urging that the REAL ID Act provision in the immigration bill be removed.
For one thing, Barr said, “no America citizen should have to prove to a government entity who they are in order to obtain or retain employment.”
“In the second place,” Barr continued, “if such a provision remains, and if a job applicant is a U.S. citizen he or she should be allowed to establish that fact through any number of legitimate identification documents.
Thirdly, and most importantly, limiting the permissible forms of identification to those that are REAL ID Act-compliant is especially problematic, given the strong and legitimate concerns with what is essentially a national identification card that the REAL ID Act has engendered.”
Barr also noted that already a number of states are enacting legislation that would opt out of the REAL ID Act provisions. Finally, Barr said, “the immigration bill should not be allowed to serve as a stealth REAL ID Implementation Act.”
Whitehead spurns last two debates for a paid TV barrage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
With two weeks to go, Jim Whitehead hit the airwaves Wednesday. On his own terms.
A Republican and the best-funded entry in the 10-candidate race for the 10th District congressional seat, Whitehead launched a 30-second TV spot that pitches him as the natural successor to U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, who died in February.
It comes on the same day that the Athens Press Club hosts a debate to be broadcast on WGAU (1340 AM). Whitehead intends to skip the gathering, as well as a June 12 televised debate sponsored by the Atlanta Press Club and Georgia Public Television.
The content is almost wholly introductory, and much like a radio ad already aired by the candidate. “When we lost Charlie, we lost a great congressman, and I lost a great friend,” Whitehead says to the camera.
But there is a subtle difference. In the radio ad, Whitehead said he’d fight for “Lower taxes, stronger economy and to control our borders.”
In the TV ad, the former Columbia County senator adds “and to defeat terrorism.”
Whitehead has been criticized, particularly by Democrat James Marlow, for ducking any extensive discussion of Iraq, not a topic likely to stir the passions of Republicans these days.
Ten-candidate debates can be pure torture, both for the audience and the participants. Look at the presidential versions. Or better yet, don’t.
That aside, in strategic terms, it’s easy to explain Whitehead’s decision to skip the last two debates. He’s considered by nearly all parties as the front-runner.
To win without a run-off, Whitehead needs 75 percent of the Republican vote in the district. That’s a difficult goal. Appearing at joint forums allows other Republicans, including Paul Broun of Athens and Bill Greene of Braselton, to whittle away at Whitehead’s GOP base — and permits Marlow to solidify Democrat support.
Whitehead has also been guilty of some verbal gaffes that have provided his rivals with ammunition — for instance, his statement that Iraq was not a “big issue” in the district.
The Athens forum is a solid two hours. That’s a long time on the hot seat. And remember that Athens is one of two population centers in the 10th District. Unlike Augusta, it’s a bastion of Democratic votes.
We talked to John Stone, who was once right-hand man to Norwood and is now giving advice to the Whitehead campaign. Stone pointed out that Whitehead did participate in a recent debate in Augusta — friendly territory for his candidate.
“It was a well-formatted, very fair debate,” Stone said. The rules made it difficult for candidates to confront one another. The program was recorded by a local cable company. The Whitehead campaign intends to post a link to it on its web site.
Stone said Whitehead has events that conflict with the final two debates. “Everybody’s missed some for various and sundry reasons, he said. But at least when it comes to tonight’s event in Athens, there was another reason as well.
“It wasn’t entirely formatted to what we wanted,” he said.
From each according to his ability, to each according to his sweet tooth
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This week, The Hill newspaper in Washington asked select members of Congress the following question:
What one trait bothers you most in another person?
Replied U.S. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Savannah): “Not sharing your dessert. I really resent it when I reach across the table for some ice cream and they get resentful because I double-dip the spoon and they have a little sniffle or something.”
So some Republicans do condone the forced redistribution of wealth. But only if followed by cigars.
