Fantasy Politics USA

Barack Obama has won the first online debate, Yahoo’s Democratic Candidate Mashup. There was a real winner because viewers were allowed to vote. Obama won the poll with 35%, and Hillary Clinton was just behind him with 31% of the vote. Clinton’s videos got more viewings though. Only 16% of the more than a million viewers voted. The forum was sponsored by Yahoo!, The Huffington Post and Slate. The only other candidate to get into double digits was John Edwards with 12%. You can still see the debate and results at Yahoo! News.
Alan Cosgrove

Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, who once aspired to be President, has announced that he will endorse Hillary Clinton. “I believe that the next president of the United States must be experienced and seasoned, must be smart, and must be tough,” Bayh said. “And I believe that Hillary Clinton is all of these things and more.” “Hillary Clinton is a seasoned, experienced leader who will be ready to lead this country on Day One,” Bayh said. Bayh serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee with Clinton, and traveled to Iraq with her last January just before she announced her intentions to run. “I believe she will run a campaign that is both tough and smart when it comes to protecting our nation’s security,” Bayh said. Bayh was named a national co-chair of Clinton’s campaign. Bayh follows in the footsteps of other potential Democratic candidates that have dropped out only to endorse Clinton. Last week General Wesley Clark announced he was endorsing Clinton, and Tom Vilsack dropped out earlier in the year to become her campaign chairman. Bayh may end up on a short list of potential vice presidential candidates. “It goes without saying that his record of public service is extraordinary,” Clinton said when asked if she would pick Bayh to be her vice president. “I have the highest personal and professional regard for him.”
Alan Cosgrove

Mitt Romney is in California pointing out that he is different from the rest of the candidates. Romney is saying that he is more of a businessman than he is a politician. “I’m not in this race for the next step in my political career. I don’t have a political career, to tell you the truth,” Romney said. “I’ve only been in politics four years as a governor. I loved the experience, but my life is my wife and my family. My career was building an enterprise, a business, with some other fellows.” Since he is not one of the “Washington politicians” he feels he would be a better uniter. “I haven’t been uniformly successful, I’ve tried to be successful, but I believe that experience will be helpful to America,” said Romney.
Romney’s campaign released a statement today that was highly critical of Hillary Clinton’s interview on Fox News Sunday when she spoke about Iranian President Ahmadinejad. In the press release Romney said, “Senator Clinton’s refusal to denounce Columbia University for inviting Ahmadinejad to speak demonstrates a fundamental failure of leadership. Under Ahmadinejad, the Iranian regime has spoken openly about the destruction of Israel, has financed terrorism around the world and defied the international community as it pursues nuclear weapons. As Ahmadinejad comes to the United States, now is the time to demonstrate resolve and not vacillate as Senator Clinton has done today.” A common business tactic employed here. Attack the competition with advertisement and press releases.
Alan Cosgrove

Newt Gingrich was on Fox News Sunday this morning and had positive things to say about Hillary Clinton. He also said that he still might run for President in 08. Gingrich said he would be looking around in the next couple of weeks to see if he can raise enough cash to run. Gingrich pointed out that, “Governor Romney has been very successful legitimately as a businessman. He can write a $100 million check. I mean, there’s no point in getting into a fight with a guy who can drown you unless you at least have enough resources for a vote.” If Gingrich supporters can come up with about $30 million then Gingrich says he would have to run. “But I want the commitments first. I don’t want to go out on personal ambition. If there is, in fact, enough people in the country who think we need this kind of approach and this kind of change-oriented policies, then I think I’d feel a responsibility to run,” Gingrich said. That only gives Gingrich a couple of months to start a serious campaign, but he is not worried. “I think in the age of television, we are reaching more people today than Abraham Lincoln reached personally his entire career,” Gingrich said. “I mean, you know, your show has literally that much more penetration than Abraham Lincoln’s entire career. So I think in the age of television, I’ve been in Iowa many times. I just came back from Mackinaw in Michigan yesterday. You know, we have many friends across the country. If we have enough friends, I think we could mount a campaign in a matter of weeks.” Chris Wallace asked Gingrich what he thought about Hillary Clinton’s health care proposal and he said, “Instead of saying yes/no, why don’t we take this as the start of a dialogue? Some things that she proposes are interesting and useful. Some things need to be challenged very directly.” Gingrich is showing a willingness to listen to other sides. That goes along with his American Solutions workshops that start this week where he is looking for new ideas to change America.
Alan Cosgrove