Ten days and counting. A senior political appointee at the Justice Department says she’ll invoke her 5th amendment right against self-incrimination and remains on the DOJ payroll.
There are so many things to say about the state of the presidential primaries that it is difficult to know where to start. But here’s a stab at it. Whoever they support now, I think a big majority of Democrats would be comfortable supporting any of the three members of the current top tier — Clinton, Edwards and Obama. Is there any member of the GOP top three — Giuliani, McCain and Romney — who even a majority of Republicans would be comfortable supporting?
Think about it.
On the Republican side, I think the money numbers are entirely secondary to news from the Giuliani campaign. Rudy still supports public funding of abortions. Apprently we’re still supposed to be in that pretend place where we believe that Rudy Giuliani can be the Republican nominee. But let me go out on a limb. Nobody who supports public funding of abortion is going to be the nominee of the Republican party. Say all you want about Rudy’s ‘leadership uber alles’ campaign platform: I’m not buying it. So I don’t think Rudy can be the Republican nominee. And I think it’s increasingly unlikely that John McCain will be either — he’s becoming a cliche.
So who? Romney? I’d have to say that seems like the most likely scenario at the moment. But only because the other scenarios don’t seem possible.
TPM Reader TP …
There needs to be some attention paid to the fact Hillary Clinton didn’t actually compete head-to-head on a level playing field with Barak Obama. Does any one honestly think Hillary would have raised $26 million without the help of her husband Bill? The Clinton campaign needs to be pressed on how much Hillary raised at her events and how much was raised by Bill. I suspect she would have reported something close to what Edwards did, $14 million. The New York Times reported last week that Bill was was used in 17 fundraisers over the course of 6 weeks by the Clinton campaign this quarter. Lets say he only raises a quarter million at each event, which is low balling it considerably, he brings in $4.25 million. Barak on the other hand raised $26 million without the star power of the biggest name in democratic politics. Even more so, the Clinton campaign did not report the overwhelming first quarter numbers they were widely expected to report. The media needs to question why Clinton only reported raising money from only 50,000 contributors when there have been news reports she has access to a list of 250,000 supporters her and Bill have maintained over 20 years. And the American people need to ask themselves if its fair that Bill finances his wife’s campaign.
These comments clearly get on to some very dicey territory. And in Hillary’s defense I think it’s fair to say that on the national stage Hillary became Hillary at about the same time Bill became Bill, if that makes sense. This isn’t quite the same as a famous political parent giving a child a boost up into political office.
The key though is that this is all beside the point. Life isn’t fair and most fields aren’t level. Whether it’s the name or the history or the fundraising gusto, this is a big advantage she brings to the campaign. Or that’s how it seemed. I don’t think anybody thought Hillary would be the most challenging of the candidates or the most inspiring or the most exciting. The idea is or was (I’m not sure) that she’s been on the national stage for going on twenty years. She’s experienced and tested in high stakes politics and — and this is the key part — whatever pizzazz or excitement some newcomer might bring to the race she could overwhelm them with organization and money. (Like Gore and Mondale, and Dole and Bush and every other annointed frontrunner.) Why that’s the case doesn’t really matter. But if she can’t do that, if Obama can over-match her on her key strength, then the outlook for her whole candidacy looks very different.
This is a note for the many journalists who I know read this site. I want one of you to come work for us. We have two positions open. And I think we may be near to filling one. But we’ve got at least one more waiting to be filled. The job is in DC. You’d be part of our small team of reporter-bloggers who write for TPMmuckraker and you’ll be part of our expanded news coverage, which we’ll be rolling out over the next month.
There’s a formal job announcement here. But let me make a personal pitch.
If you’re a regular reader you know the kind of muckraking reporting we do on stories like the Abramoff scandal, the always-expanding Cunningham scandal, the US Attorney Purge and a lot else. We dig deep into stories we think matter; we stick with them; we have fun with them — and all following standards of journalism I’d be happy to stack against those of any other outfit in the profession.
And we’re not only about scandal. We want to dig into what’s happening in Congress today. Find more stories that deserve more attention but aren’t getting it.
We work really hard and have a lot of fun doing it. And our relationship with our readers, who do a great deal of the frontline research which feeds into our more traditional reporting, plays a critical role in allowing us to get a jump, frequently, on bigger news organizations. And there’s a lot of challenge and fun and satisfaction just operating in a new medium and playing some small role in creating it.
If you’re interested in joining us, send in an application or drop me a line directly using the comments email address on the upper right.
Today’s Must Read: on the ropes, Alberto Gonzales trains deep into the night for his upcoming Senate hearing.
Former senior Justice Department official calls for Gonzales’ resignation.
From Doug Feith’s lips to your ears.
Finally, a declassified version of the briefing slides (pdf) used by Feith’s shop to illustrate the “mature, symbiotic relationship” between Iraq and Al Qaeda has been made publicly available, courtesy of Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI). The briefing was given to senior White House officials in the prelude to the Iraq War.
Levin also released a declassified version (pdf) of the Defense Department’s Inspector General’s report on Feith, which found that Feith’s doings “inappropriate but legal.”
Highlights soon.
Update: Highlights here.
Based on zero evidence, Associated Press declares that support for Pelosi’s Syria trip is a “minority” view.