“‘Hillary’s appointment is a sign to friend and foe of the seriousness of my commitment to renew American diplomacy and restore our alliances,’ Obama said at a news conference in Chicago, Illinois. ‘I have no doubt that Hillary Clinton is the right person to lead our State Department and to work with me in tackling this ambitious foreign policy agenda.’ ” [Link]
“President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, said their young daughters will still have to do chores in the White House and won’t get out of doing homework just because they’re the president’s children. In an interview with Barbara Walters, the Obamas said Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10, will have lives as normal as possible. That means helping out around the house. ‘That was the first thing I said to some of the staff when I did my visit,’ Michelle Obama said. ‘I said, ‘You know, we’re going to have to set up some boundaries,’ because they’re going to need to be able to make their beds, and clean up.’” [Link]
” American workers will rebuild the nation’s roads and bridges, modernize its schools and create more sources of alternative energy, creating 2.5 million jobs by 2011, Obama said in the weekly Democratic address, posted on his Web site. “These aren’t just steps to pull ourselves out of this immediate crisis,” he said. “These are the long-term investments in our economic future that have been ignored for far too long.”" [Link]
“Verizon Wireless said last night that a number of its employees have ‘accessed and viewed’ President-elect Barack Obama’s personal cellphone account without authorization. The company said all employees who accessed the account — whether they were authorized to or not — were immediately put on leave with pay. ” [Link]
“President-elect Barack Obama has chosen former U.S. Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle to be Health and Human Services secretary, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing sources close to Obama’s transition team.” [Link]
“President-elect Obama has decided to tap Eric Holder as his attorney general, putting the veteran Washington lawyer in place to become the first African-American to head the Justice Department, according to two legal sources close to the presidential transition. Holder, who served as deputy attorney general during the Clinton administration, still has to undergo a formal ‘vetting’ review by the Obama transition team before the selection is final and is publicly announced, said one of the sources, who asked not to be identified talking about the transition process. ” [Link]
Bill Clinton picture
“The examination of the former president suggests how seriously Mr. Obama is considering bringing his onetime rival for the Democratic presidential nomination into his cabinet. He met with Mrs. Clinton secretly in Chicago on Thursday to talk about the prospect and word quickly filtered out.” [Link]
“In an interview with her husband broadcast Sunday on CBS’ ‘60 Minutes,’ future first lady Michelle Obama said: ‘We’re on call-mode on the dog front. Because the deal with the dog was that we would get the dog after we got settled. Because as responsible owners we — I don’t think it would be good to get a dog in the midst of transition.’ She added: ‘We cut that deal with the kids before … America knew about it. So they’re — they’re good with it.’” Link
“‘We will take no money from federal lobbyists,’ Podesta announced during a press conference inside the transition team’s Washington headquarters. He called the new lobbyist measures the ’strictest ethics rules ever applied.’ The transition chief said Obama called on the Democratic National Committee to curb the influence of lobbyists after winning the election. ” [Link]
“On Friday night, only nine volunteers manned the 24 phones in the McCain campaign office. The phone bank began operating on a daily basis just two weeks ago. And since then, only five people have shown up on most weekdays to canvass local neighborhoods. Obama’s campaign, in contrast, has flooded this GOP bastion with volunteers. Some canvassers first hit the winding streets of nearby subdivisions in March during the Democratic primary, and they have worked almost nonstop since in search of supporters.” [Link]
[Picture via newzgirl]
“With just three days left until Election Day, a new CBS News poll finds that the Democratic presidential ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden leads its Republican counterpart by 13 points among likely voters, 54 percent to 41 percent. That margin reflects an increase of two points in the Obama-Biden ticket’s lead from a CBS News/New York Times poll released Thursday. ” [Link]
“Republican John McCain leads Democrat Barack Obama by two points (46 percent to 44 percent) in Arizona, a margin that makes the race too close to call, according to a new Cronkite/Eight Poll. The poll of 1,019 registered voters in Arizona was conducted Oct. 23-26 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.” [Link]
“Tomorrow in Canton, OH, Senator Obama caps off a nearly two year campaign with a closing argument speech that lays out the choice in this election and details how he will fix our economy and bring the change we need to Washington. In his speech, Senator Obama will tell voters that after twenty-one months and three debates, Senator McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he’d do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy. Obama will ask Americans to help him change this country, and say that in just one week, they can choose an economy that rewards work and creates new jobs and fuels prosperity from the bottom-up, they can choose to invest in health care for our families and education for our kids and renewable energy for our future, and they can choose hope over fear, unity over division and the promise of change over the power of the status quo.”
“Appearing on Meet the Press, NBC’s Chuck Todd noted that early voting is ‘through the roof,’ and that turnout is threatening John McCain even in states that lean his way, including Georgia and North Carolina. Turnout among African-Americans might be ’somewhere between 95 and 100 percent in some of these states,’ he noted, upturning some red-leaning southern states.” [Link]
“There is now no perceptible rebound for John McCain; in fact, the race may still be trending toward Obama, although the safer assumption is that it’s flat. Meanwhile, Obama’s electoral position appears as strong as ever. John McCain’s chances of winning the election have dwindled to 3.7%, down from 6.5% yesterday.” [Link]
“Obama leads in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, according to new polls from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. The best news for him is certainly in Ohio—normally considered a must-win state for Republicans–where he widened his lead to 52% versus Sen. John McCain’s 38%. At the beginning of the month, Obama led by just eight percentage points in the state with 20 electoral college votes.” [Link]
“With a shot of the ‘big board’ on Wall Street present on the screen almost continuously for the hour, showing the Dow down 514.45 points, Cavuto paraded out a who’s who of capitalist pigs who preached to the crowd about how we’re going to hell in a hand basket if Obama wins. These guys are freaked out and that their robber baron days might be coming to an end.” [Link]
“Obama gained the most ground in North Carolina, where he now leads John McCain among likely voters by 51% to 47%, up four percentage points from earlier this month when a similar poll showed the two tied at 49%. In Nevada, Obama expanded his lead to 51% to 46%, up a percentage point from September. Similarly, in the crucial swing state of Ohio, Obama leads the Arizona senator by a 50% to 46% margin, an increase of one percentage point from his lead earlier this month. In Virginia, a state that increasingly looks to be solidly in Obama’s corner, the Illinois senator remains 10 percentage points ahead 54% to 44%. Still, Obama’s ability to make inroads into red states does appear to have some limits; he lost ground in West Virginia — a state his campaign has said they are just starting to contest — and now trails there by 41% to McCain’s 53%, more than doubling McCain’s September lead of 49% to Obama’s 44%.” [Link]
“Less than two weeks before Election Day, Barack Obama leads John McCain 49 percent to 40 percent among likely voters, according to a FOX News poll released Wednesday. Obama’s advantage comes mainly from independents, and from the fact that more voters identify themselves as Democrats these days and almost all of them back their party’s nominee. Eighty-eight percent of Democrats support Obama, and 83 percent of Republicans back McCain. Independents break 44 percent to 35 percent in Obama’s favor. In addition to independents, white Catholics are another important swing voting group and they support Obama 50 percent to 39 percent. White Catholics have voted for the winner in each of the last four presidential elections.” [Link]
Tampa Bay Rays picture
“Pitcher David Price will introduce Obama, according to his campaign. Outfielder Fernando Perez, and teammates Carl Crawford, Cliff Floyd, Jonny Gomes, B.J. Upton, Edwin Jackson, and Jason Bartlett will also appear on stage. Getting the effective endorsement of the same guys who earned Tampa its first-ever trip to the World Series can’t help but give an oomph to Obama’s popularity in central Florida, where the Rays have won a large following during a miraculous season. ” [Link]
Eric Schmidt picture
“Google Inc. Chief Executive Eric Schmidt will hit the campaign trail this week on behalf of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, signaling Mr. Schmidt’s push for a greater voice in politics while giving the Obama campaign a boost from a highly desirable constituency.” [Link]
“John McCain and Barack Obama swapped self-deprecating jokes instead of campaign jabs Thursday night, the Republican saying he had replaced his team of senior advisers with ‘Joe the Plumber’ while the Democrat claimed his own ‘greatest strength would be my humility.’” [Link]
“Paddy Power, Ireland’s largest bookmaker, has announced that it will not wait for the results on Election Day and will pay out over a million euros’ worth of bets on Obama to become the next president. Paddy Power occasionally makes early payouts when the betting public is significantly behind a bet.” [Link]
“The Obama-Biden ticket now leads the McCain-Palin ticket 53 percent to 39 percent among likely voters, a 14-point margin. One week ago, prior to the Town Hall debate that uncommitted voters saw as a win for Obama, that margin was just three points.
” [Link]
Angelina Jolie picture
“Asked if she finds Obama and his background an example to her family, she replies, ‘Naturally that’s good, but it’s not a sufficient reason to vote for him. ‘Obama fights for international justice, he wants to militarily intervene in cases of genocide, and close Guantanamo Bay. These are the things that could move me to vote for him, not his roots.’ She then adds, ‘Naturally, an American president like Barack Obama would be nice for my family.’” [Link]
“Of the 263,408 ballots already cast, 38% were by voters who identify themselves as African Americans, even though blacks account for just 29% of Georgia’s 5.6 million voters. Registration is up from about 4.3 million in November 2004 and about 4 million in November 2000. John McCain holds a substantial lead over Barack Obama in most Georgia polls, including leads of seven and eight percentage points in Research 2000 and SurveyUSA polls taken last week. ” [Link]
“‘We are supporting Senator Barack Obama because of his judgment, experience, and ability to inspire people to come together around a common purpose,’ the letter said. ‘Senator Obama’s talents offer an historic opportunity; for the sake of America’s security and standing in the world, we must seize it.’ The letter, signed by officials from both major political parties, said the foreign policies of the Bush administration have diminished America’s alliances abroad.” [Link]
“‘Sen. McCain doesnt get it. He doesn’t understand the storm that hit Wall Street hit Main Street long ago,’ Obama said, standing before the Detroit Public Library. ‘ That’s why his first response to the greatest financial meltdown in generations was a Katrina-like response. He sort of stood there. He said the fundamental of the economy are strong. It’s why he’s been shifting positions these last two weeks, looking for photo-ops, trying to figure out what to say and what to do.’” [Link]
“The Quinnipiac surveys found that Obama has double-digit leads among women in every state except Minnesota. In Colorado, he pulled ahead of McCain after trailing in July. Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, sid he believed the results reflect the growing unpopulaqrity of President George W. Bush — whom Obama has persistently linked to McCain — and the financial catastrophe on Wall Street.” [Link]
“An Obama spokeswoman, Amy Brundage, confirmed Sunday that the campaign’s North Dakota staffers were being sent to Minnesota and Wisconsin, where recent polls have shown a tight race between Obama and Republican John McCain. She declined to say how many campaign workers were being shifted, but other Democratic activists put the number at more than 50.” [Link]
“‘First, there must be no blank check when American taxpayers are on the hook for this much money,’ Mr. Obama told supporters at an outdoor rally in downtown Charlotte. ‘Second, taxpayers shouldn’t be spending a dime to reward C.E.O.s on Wall Street while they’re going out the door.’” [Link]
“Obama is calling out McCain in ads that say the GOP nominee takes an ‘extreme position on choice’ and ‘will make abortion illegal.’ He is spreading his message through low-profile radio ads and campaign mailings, though, hoping to avoid being tagged as too liberal on a woman’s right to choose to end a pregnancy.” [Link]
“‘John McCain says that he’ll take on the special interests and lobbyists, but McCain can’t fix a problem he’s been part of for three decades. The 500,000 new donors to the Obama campaign demonstrate just how strongly the American people are looking to kick the special interests out and change Washington,’ said David Plouffe, Obama’s campaign manager, in a statement.” [Link]
“Speaking at a high school in Norfolk, Obama took a few moments to address what he calls ‘the made-up controversy’ of the day, Amie Parnes reports. Obama said the McCain campaign moved to ’seize an innocent remark and take it out of context because they knew it’s catnip for the news media.’” [Link]
“‘Our kids and our country can’t afford four more years of neglect and indifference. At this defining moment in our history, America faces few more urgent challenges than preparing our children to compete in a global economy,’ Obama said at a campaign event in Riverside, Ohio. Obama also charged that Sen. John McCain hasn’t done ‘one thing’ to improve public education. ” [Link]
Fannie Mae
“‘Under no circumstances should the executives of these institutions earn a windfall at a time when the U.S. Treasury has taken unprecedented steps to rescue these companies with taxpayer resources,’ Obama said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart. ‘I urge you immediately to clarify that the agreement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac voids any such inappropriate windfall payments to outgoing CEOs and senior management.’ ” [Link]
Barack Obama
“It was in St. Paul last week that Palin drew raucous cheers when she delivered this put-down of Obama: ‘Al-Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America and he’s worried that someone won’t read them their rights.’ Obama had a few problems with that. ‘First of all, you don’t even get to read them their rights until you catch ‘em,’ Obama said here, drawing laughs from 1,500 supporters in a high school gymnasium. ‘They should spend more time trying to catch Osama bin Laden and we can worry about the next steps later.’ If the plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks are in the government’s sights, Obama went on, they should be targeted and killed. ‘My position has always been clear: If you’ve got a terrorist, take him out,’ Obama said. ‘Anybody who was involved in 9/11, take ‘em out.’” [Link]
“New numbers released by CNN Monday explain just how the presidential race remains so close with 57 days to go until voters weigh in at the polls: the conventions were so successful for both parties that that each essentially canceled the other out. The candidates’ favorable ratings are identical (60 percent) — and almost identical to what they were before the conventions began. The GOP convention made Republicans more enthusiastic (an increase of 17 points). But Democrats are more enthusiastic as well (up 14 points), so an 11 point ‘enthusiasm gap’ favoring remains: 71 percent of Democrats say they are enthusiastic about the election, compared to 60 percent of Republicans.” [Link]
“The New York Senator touts the economic plan of Obama-Biden while blasting the GOP ticket as “more of the same” in Kissimmee, Florida, on Monday. “I didn’t hear the Republicans at their convention address the needs of real Americans.” “We have a tough road ahead of us, but I don’t think it could be any clearer what the choice will be.”” [Link]
“The campaign had predicted that its August numbers could lag given the difficulty of reaching residents during vacation season. But the August gain puts the Obama campaign very much on track toward its goal of signing up 150,000 new voters by the early October voter registration deadline, on top of the 142,000 new voters who registered during primary season.” [Link]
