Obama and Rockefeller Campaign Across Ohio

[OhioChick]

March 2, 2008, 5:44 PM

COLUMBUS, OHIO -- Despite the fact that he believes he ran a “clean campaign” from the start, Barack Obama repeatedly went after Hillary Clinton at a rally in Westerville, Ohio today. Clinton made a campaign stop at the same Columbus suburb a few hours earlier, but at a different venue.

“This has been a long contest on the Democratic side, and we’ve had strong candidates throughout, Senator Clinton is a fine candidate and I tried as much as possible to spend my campaign talking not about the flaws of the other candidates but why I am running,” Obama told a crowd of over 1,500.

“So I think that I think that the reason we’ve done well is because people understand that the problem is not who’s got the 10-point plan, because everybody’s got a 10-point plan. We’ve all got experts. We’ve all got accomplishments we can tout, we’ve all got a track record. The question is who can bring a country together, so you have a working majority to actually bring about change.”

During the hour-long town hall meeting, Obama went after Clinton on NAFTA, Iraq and lobbyists, all without mentioning John McCain. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who endorsed Obama just few days ago, was on the campaign trail with Obama today. Despite his long relationship with the Clintons, Rockefeller said he chose Obama because of his character and judgment. He also argued that Obama will be able to withstand Republican attacks if he is the nominee, and that he has more experience than John McCain.

“I think Senator Obama’s experience is substantially greater than Senator McCain’s,” Rockefeller said, “and I know that seems like an odd statement to make right now given McCain’s service in Vietnam. I think that it comes down to the past versus the future.”


http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/03/02/politics/fromtheroad/entry3897849.shtml

[GoreVidalIsGod]

1. Hillary must be shitting her pants with all the bigwigs coming out for Obama one after another

[liberalnurse]

6. Ohio will not give Rockafeller

the time of day. They all probably said; "who the hell is he?"

[theboss]

10. He's well-known in the Ohio Valley and among labor unions

Places like Steubenville and Marietta know him well. And Labor Unions know him very very well, which can only help in Cleveland and Youngstown.

Rockefeller voted against NAFTA. He's been the second most important politician in a border state since the 70s. And since so much of WV's media comes from Ohio-based sources, he's been in their papers and on their newscasts quite a bit over the years. (My "hometown" news and "hometown" newspaper growing up both came from Steubenville).

[Selatius]

2. Rockefeller should be damn ashamed for helping to engineer the FISA bill with telecom immunity.

He got big contributions from the telecom industry in his last election cycle. AT&T was the biggest followed by Verizon.

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.asp?CID=N00001685&cycle=2008

[theboss]

5. Not that he is incorruptible...but why does Jay need ANY support from the telecom industry?

He's a bloody Rockefeller so he's not really seeking greater personal wealth. And he gets above 60 percent of the vote every time her runs for re-election.

I just find it hard to believe that he was bought off.

[WVRevy]

8. I don't believe that for a second

Byrd and Rockefeller could run against god in this state and win 60% of the vote.

[theboss]

9. To me, that list is striking for two reasons:

1. The numbers involved are minute. Chuck Schumer received $154,000 from his top 2 contributors. Jay received $71,000 from his top two.

2. The contributors all seem to have a pretty big connection to WV. Cell phone service is still an issue in WV, because of the lack of access to so many large parts of the state. Until recent years, service in places like Morgantown was spotty.

[Selatius]

12. Big is relative. The source of the funds is still pretty relevant, imho. Take Schumer.

His biggest donor? Citigroup, also headquartered in NYC. Which committee does he sit on? Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs with jurisdiction over subcommittees that regulate financial institutions as well as sitting on the Senate Committee on Finance.

Rockefeller? Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, chairman in fact. They had oversight on the FISA bill. His biggest donor was AT&T, yet unlike Schumer, Rockefeller's biggest donor is headquartered all the way in San Antonio, Texas.

As far as the size of contributions between New York and West Virginia? My guess is it's probably because New York State takes much more money to defend a senate seat or win one compared to a senate seat in West Virginia. Of course, that's based on the hypothesis that Rockefeller would've received a bigger chunk of money from AT&T than what he did if he represented New York than West Virginia, but I readily admit that's speculative on my part.

While AT&T's contribution to Rockefeller in West Virginia is dwarfed by Citigroup's contribution to Schumer, it could simply be that it doesn't take as much money to get the attention of a politician in West Virginia.

I can only think the reason why AT&T sought to donate so much to Rockefeller even though AT&T is in another state is because he chaired the relevant committee that was handling the issue of granting telecom companies immunity from lawsuits by wronged parties. The same applies to Verizon, which is also located in another state, which happens to be New York City, NY.

[theboss]

13. Probably because WV is a challenge for cell phone providers

If you look at your service area maps, you are still going to find large swatches of WV without coverage. That's because it is a challenge geographically. If cell phone carriers want to build cell phone towers in WV, they probably will need a lot of federal assistance - particularly in the national park areas....which is pretty much the entire southeast of the state.

[WVRevy]

15. You don't get it...

...Rockefeller didn't even really DO much campaigning in his last election. He didn't NEED to. In order to be beholden to special interests, you have to be dependant upon them for something, and he simply ISN'T.

[theboss]

3. My understanding is that Jay was on the short-list for VP in '92

Granted, this might have just been West Virginians getting ahead of themselves, but Jay and the Clintons have been close for a long, long time. He should have been an easy endorsement for her.

[Cha]

4. Go Ohio GOBama!

Hugh L Carey endorses Obama, too.

Hugh L Carey backs Obama! "Two term Guv of New York
who was resonsible for rescuing the city and state from insolvency back in the '70's".

<snip>

Either choice would be a measurable improvement over where we are,” Mr. Carey said in an interview on Friday, “but I have a preference based on the measures I make: a basic capacity to deal with crisis and to think globally for our security, the fact that he has talked of coalition and reaching across the aisle, and the way he has conducted his campaign.”

<more>
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/nyregion/02carey.html...

[OhioChick]

7. Good News! n/t

[Adelante]

11. Wow

I didn't realize he was still alive.

[Cha]

14. Alive and apparently

kicking butt..dude's 89 April 11th. :)

[Adelante]

17. He sounds sharp enough, for sure nt

[Radical Activist]

16. Wow. He talks about specific issues with substance.

Its much better than Hillary's unsubstantiated name calling calling against Obama.