May 16, 2008
Obama Goes for a Michigan and Florida-Proof Majority (Dick Morris)
For months, everyone who follows the Democratic presidential nominating contest has focused on 2,025 delegates, the total needed to win the nomination if you do not count the delegates from Florida or Michigan.
Now, in her West Virginia victory speech, Hillary is floating an alternative number — 2,209 — the number of votes to secure a majority with both of these states fully counted. But there is a third number for which Obama must now strive — 2,075 — the number of delegates he needs to win to assure that even if Florida and Michigan were fully counted, he would still have a majority at the convention. > Read More
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What's This May 15, 2008
Edwards Catches the Late Train (Dick Morris)
It took John Edwards four months to make up his mind to belatedly endorse Obama for president.
His backing, now, is really an effort to play catch-up and to avoid being consigned to irrelevance should Obama win the election. But the process that led Edwards to act is emblematic of that which will assure Obama of sufficient delegates to win the nomination.
No longer is it a question of whether to endorse Obama or Hillary. Now the professional politicians who are the uncommitted superdelegates have to rush to get seats on the late train for Obama before it leaves the station. > Read More
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What's This May 6, 2008
Hillary's Not Fooling Anyone (Dick Morris)
Hillary's attempt to cast herself as a blue-collar girl is as phony as any of her reinventions, and voters realize it.
Contrary to her belief, we are not morons. We know that she has had child care at her beck and call, along with a full staff of servants as she reared Chelsea first in the Arkansas Governor's Mansion and then in the White House.
She's no working mom. But it serves her purpose to portray herself in that light so as to give voters who are turned off by the Rev. Wright and worried about Obama an excuse to vote for her. Her posturing as something she is not — a redneck girl — makes it OK to vote for her even if the motivation is not affection for Hillary but fear of Obama.
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What's This May 3, 2008
O’Reilly-Clinton Interview Shows Dem Flaw (Dick Morris)
By Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
Bill O’Reilly asked Hillary Clinton the key question about the war in Iraq: What happens if we pull out and the Iranians move in? She talked around the issue, but never gave a convincing answer to O’Reilly’s question. She said she would replace force with diplomacy. But, as Frederick the Great said, “diplomacy without force is like music without instruments.” If our troops are long gone from Iraq, the Iranians will snub our diplomacy and laugh at our entireties. They will add Iraq to their other trophies in the region: Syria, Lebanon and Gaza. > Read More
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What's This April 25, 2008
Is Hillary Savaging Obama So She Can Run in 2012? (Dick Morris)
It is obvious that Hillary can't win the elected delegates and it is becoming increasingly apparent that the superdelegates will not override the will of the voters and give her the nomination.
Yet she continues not only to run, which is her right, but to attack Obama viciously as she campaigns, raising the Rev. Wright issue, accusing him of weakness and harping on his "bitter" comment.
Could it be that she wants to make sure that Obama loses to McCain in 2008 so that the way is clear for her to run in 2012? Don't put that past her.
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What's This April 17, 2008
Obama Shows Weakness (Dick Morris)
The debate last night will have no real impact on the election. Paid media is driving Obama's movement in Pennsylvania. But what was happening in the debate is that Obama's essential decency and moderation — and his fear of appearing strident — lead him to pull his punches and come on far too weak to defeat anybody in November. He has got to develop more strength and take the shots that are open to him. He let chance after chance go by during the debate. He just has no instinct for the jugular.
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What's This April 16, 2008
Hillary Jumped to Go Negative Too Soon (Dick Morris)
Hillary's momentum in Pennsylvania may have stalled, according to the most recent polling. If so, why? She jumped all over the Obama "bitter" comment the moment he said it. That meant that she probably didn't poll it. With Penn sidelined, perhaps the campaign is not as poll-dependent as it once was. In any case, it appears not to have been that big a deal in a Democratic primary. After all, putting down gun owners and those who take strong stands against immigration, as well as religious people, is not all that bad among liberals. > Read More
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What's This April 12, 2008
Hillary Cynical on NAFTA (Dick Morris)
Nothing is so hypocritical as Hillary's attempts to persuade us that she always opposed NAFTA. Her official schedule includes several meetings to back ratification, and participants recall that she was strongly in favor. There is nothing in her memoirs to suggest anything other than strong support for one of her husband's major achievements. And, in our personal phone conversations throughout 1993, we discussed the need to get NAFTA approved to boost Bill's reputation for effectiveness, somewhat tattered after the defeat of his stimulus package.
In fact, Hillary may have fired Penn — if she really has — as a graphic way of depicting how opposed she is to free trade deals in a desperate effort to salvage Pennsylvania. In fact, it is probably Bill who got Penn the contract. He met with President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia on March 27, 2007, and urged him to focus more on Democrats in Congress in his efforts to get the treaty approved. One week later, on April 5, 2007, Penn was hired, and four weeks after that Colombia hired Glover Park, the lobbying firm that is home to Clinton operatives such as Joe Lockhart and Howard Wolfson (now on leave).
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What's This April 8, 2008
McCain is Odd Man Out (Dick Morris)
With all of the controversy swirling around the Democratic race, the conventional wisdom — that the continued division of the Dems helps McCain — couldn't be further off the mark.
McCain can't get a word in edgewise. His candidacy ages by the day without any clear ability to define himself and with two Democratic critics taking shots at him. He needs a populist message, attacking the powerful and wealthy who led us to the mortgage crisis and going after credit card companies and other targets.
His descent into near-invisibility does him no good.
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What's This April 7, 2008
Penn Only the Tip of Lobbying Iceberg (Dick Morris)
The Clinton campaign's decision to dismiss Mark Penn for lobbying for the Colombia Free Trade Agreement begs the question of the involvement of Grover Park, another lobbying firm staffed by Clintonistas, which now gets $40,000 per month to lobby for the agreement.
Joe Lockhard, former Clinton press secretary and Clinton confidant and frequent spokesman, is a principal of the firm, as is Howard Wolfson, now on a leave, who is the campaign spokesman. A third firm, Johnson-Madigan, also lobbies for Colombia. They were recently retained by Clinton loyalist Harold Ickes to assist in his efforts to get earmarks.
It is no coincidence that all three of the firms that lobby for the Colombia deal have Clinton connections. Until Hillary's flip-flop on free trade and NAFTA, the Clintons were at the forefront of efforts to secure free trade agreements around the world.
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