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Obama took the stage soon after, again stressing the need for - you guessed it! - unity. The Senator also stressed the importance of Bill and Hillary Clinton's respective roles in his campaign: We need them. We need them badly. Not just my campaign, but the American people need their service and their vision and their wisdom in the months and years to come because that's how we're going to bring about unity in the Democratic Party. And that's how we're going to bring about unity in America. Talking Points Memo spliced together some highlights from today's event, which we've included below. Meanwhile, the politicos appeared together last night to woo Clinton donors over to Obama's team. And apparently with mixed reviews. |
» Dowry.
"Senator Barack Obama said he had written a personal check of $2,300 to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a good-will gesture intended to nudge his top donors to help ease Clinton's campaign debt and help the two Democrats move beyond their rivalry to focus on the presidential contest this autumn." [IHT] |
» 2012?
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and their respective teams are hammering out a deal ahead of tomorrow's "Unity" meeting in New Hampshire. And, as such, everyone's speculating over how the former rivals can come together for the general election. While some are optimistic about the pairing, MSNBC political analyst Michelle Bernard senses something may be amiss: "I don‘t think she‘s ever really going to like him. She might like him more if all of her campaign debt gets paid off. But I think there‘s a 2012 strategy here." [MSNBC] |
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Mr. Clinton, who is currently in Europe, told reporters through a spokesperson today that he's "committed" to helping Barack Obama win the White House. Said Matt McKenna, "President Clinton is obviously committed to doing whatever he can and is asked to do to ensure Senator Obama is the next president of the United States." Neither Clinton nor the Obama campaign would elaborate on what role Mr. Clinton will play in the general election. Mrs. Clinton, meanwhile, will appear with Obama on Friday in Unity, New Hampshire. And trust that the former presidential hopeful had a bit more to say than her husband:
While Senator Clinton's presence will help iron out remaining wrinkles in the party - and woo the ever-important women's vote, Bill will most likely be sent to blue collar communities to rustle of the "Reagan Democrats" who may be rethinking Republican rival John McCain. |
» Tag Team.
"Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama's campaign says he'll campaign with former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton next week. Obama's campaign said in an e-mail that the two senators will campaign together for the first time on Friday, June 27. Obama and Clinton are also scheduled to hold a joint fundraiser this month." [AP] |
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[Bower] said he helped establish the grassroots group Party Unity, My Ass this month to connect voters who are angry that Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee. You know what? We hate to break it to you, Bower, but the United States doesn't uphold democratic principles. First of all, we don't have a proportional system, which means that our system's basically zero sum: you win or you lose, there's no power sharing and, thus, millions of people get counted out. It sucks, yes, but that's just the way it is. More importantly, however, is that the Democratic party, like all private organizations, has its own rules. Michigan and Florida's respective parties broke those rules. Barack Obama was simply playing by them. If people are still pissed about the primary's complicated process, they should just get out of the party, rather than trying to dismantle it. If people really cared about the party, they would follow Hillary Clinton's advice and back Barack Obama. It seems, however, that some are simply too selfish to understand the nuance of our nation's political process. |
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David Mixner On The Clintons, HRC, Outing and Obama
David Mixner's been in the political fray for over forty years, since Martin Luther King inspired the burgeoning activist's social responsbility. In the years that followed, Mixner fought battles great and small, worked inside campaigns, got arrested protesting unjust wars, joined the McGovern Commission - which rewrote the Democratic party's rules - and would later rally gays around his old friend Bill Clinton, whom Mixner met while crusading against the Vietnam War. Mixner went on to join Clinton's campaign and became the first openly gay man actively - and very publicly - involved in a presidential election. Those were optimistic times, but Clinton would later break with Mixner by signing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which prohibits openly gay soldiers from serving in the military. Furious over Clinton's apparent betrayal, Mixner came out against the discriminatory policy, a move which ended up getting him booted from the inner circle. Of course, Mixner's always been more comfortable on the outside. In fact, he describes himself as "the best outsider on the inside." Now, as we charge toward November, Mixner's hoping to bring the gays to another Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama. During a recent conference call with the Senator's campaign, Mixner invoked the Clinton campaign, saying:
Considering Mixner's mixed career, editor Andrew Belonsky chose to start this interview on a decidedly untraditional note… |
» Teaser…
Our editor recently sat down with gay activist David Mixner and while we won't publish the boys' chat until tomorrow morning, here what Mixner, who once supported John Edwards and is a long-time friend of Hillary Clinton's, had to say about backing Barack Obama: "One of the joys of this campaign is that I had to make a decision not to support Senator Clinton, then I supported John Edwards and I ended up with Obama and I have become a real huge Obama fan in the process, which sort of caught me by surprise… [This election is] between the future and the past. It's just such a clear cut decision for the people of this country." |
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The New Jersey-born activist acted as the Recording Industry Association of America's chairman for five years, acted lesbian social networking site Ourchart's president, served as Human Rights Campaign's interim executive director back in 2004 and currently serves as Huffington Post's political director, a gig she accepted earlier this year. With all that experience under her belt, you can be sure Rosen, who previously endorsed Hillary Clinton's campaign, has scads to say about the current electoral climate, including the increasingly "blurred" lines between press and politics, her feelings on Clinton's departure, sexism in the press and how the lived experience shapes one's political views. And, thankfully, Rosen shared her thoughts - and many more - with our trusty editor. Before getting into all of that, however, the duo start things off at the "beginning" of Rosen's queer career: her coming out. Read all about it, after the jump… |
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Flamers on! |
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Sign away! |
» Grudge.
MSNBC's political director Chuck Todd on Bill Clinton's "bitterness" over Barack Obama: "I'm told that Bill Clinton is not over this yet. Hillary Clinton is over this, to a point. Bill Clinton believes that he was turned into a racist and believes the Obama campaign did it to him, [he] believes that the Obama campaign has tarnished his legacy in the '90s. That "turn the page" stuff is a way of saying the '90s were a failure, not a success. The bitterness in Clinton world is in that Harlem office where President Clinton resides." [MSNBC] |
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The next question is how Obama will use Hillary and Bill Clinton in his own bid for the White House. And, of course, whether Clinton's supporters get on the Obama band wagon. Watch Mrs. Clinton's speech, after the jump… |
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In addition to releasing a gay pride message yesterday, the Senator’s campaign last night organized an impromptu conference call for about 1200 Democratic supporters. While ostensibly meant to inform the Democratic candidate’s constituents, the call served another, far more important purpose: rallying Senator Hillary Clinton’s supporters. In fact, the former contender’s name arose within seconds of the call’s commencement, when Obama's deputy campaign manager Steve Hildebrand began, “It is a very important time for our country, our party, for Senator Obama and Senator Clinton.” |
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» Users.
"Republican Sen. John 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 Sen. Hillary Rodham 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." [MSNBC] |