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Thursday: Name That Tune
posted at 2008-02-21 22:52 | Last modified 2008-02-22 08:28
Texas Two-step
Tonight's Austin debate was a donut for HRC. She looked great coming out, and great closing, too. (She’s never looked more sincere and more likeable than on the final question.) But the middle was a huge opening for Obama, who eschewed Clinton’s policy briefs in favor of broad themes that unfailingly won crowd support. Clinton even got booed for the sharp elbow (“Change you can Xerox”) she threw over the plagiarism story.
Overall, she turned in the same strong performance she always does in this format. But Obama’s gotten better at it in the meantime, too. So the Mo goes on.
Bring on the Dancing Horses
You knew it had to happen: 527 ads have finally made their entrance into the Democratic presidential primary. This “issue” ad by the American Leadership Project hit the airwaves this week in states with competitive Dem primaries (which would be most of them, as far as I can tell). Over at TPM, Eric Kleefeld reports the Obama camp is threatening legal action.
Speaking of viral video, there’s this one that’s been making the rounds today. Maybe more actionable, but definitely more entertaining. Vanilla Ice never had a hit like this.
Ain’t Misbehavin’
GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory used the occasion of his candidate filing today for a beau geste: he introduced, and signed for the cameras, a pledge of good conduct for the Republican candidates for governor. It’s pretty much Ronald Reagan’s 11th commandment – Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.
That’s easy to promise when you’re leading your field. But it’s reasonably shrewd, too, and with Jack Hawke helming his campaign, you’d expect no less. McCrory’s move put him on the high road with a public that’s clearly sick of negative campaigning, and he got camera time for it, too.
The AP's Gary Robertson reports Bob Orr said he'd consider signing the pledge, but spokespeople for Fred Smith and Bill Graham say they won't sign. In fact, there’s an unsubstantiated rumor out there today that Graham might not even sign his filing statement. A source inside Graham’s campaign says the rumor is not true: Graham is planning strategy for the next few months, and will file as a candidate next Monday.
Mo’ Money, Mo’ Problems
State Treasurer Richard Moore announced today that NC’s state pension fund has been ranked second in the US by Standard and Poor’s for the third year running.
Moore’s never better than when he’s teaching Investments 101 to a small group like the press corps. This guy loves what he does, and it shows: he’s animated, engaged, open in a way that doesn’t always come through on the campaign trail.
But the campaign trail is never far away at this point in the election cycle, and today was no exception. When asked about the SEANC lawsuit, Moore stood by his statement from last week that he’d released everything they requested, even though his attorneys in the AG’s office released 1100 more pages to SEANC yesterday.
Meantime, SEANC Director Dana Cope says his group isn’t dropping its lawsuit against Moore. He says there’s a handful of documents they still haven’t received, 1800 pages later – most importantly, a list of the names of the investment managers who've received fees to manage the state’s investments. When I asked Moore’s office about it, it wasn't clear whether that list had ever been compiled. More on that when I get it.
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