Obama to Clinton: "Don't declare mission accomplished"
- By News Hound
- Published 10/19/2007
- Politics
- Unrated
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View all articles by News HoundObama to Clinton: "Don't declare mission accomplished"
WASHINGTON (AFP) — White House challenger Barack Obama is trying to stamp out the notion that front-runner Hillary Clinton is the "inevitable" Democratic nominee, warning it is too early for her to declare "mission accomplished."
Obama, who styles himself as a break from the politics of rancor which he says has stifled Washington, is cranking up increasingly personal rhetoric against the former first lady.
"Hillary is not the first politician in Washington to declare 'Mission Accomplished' a little too soon," Obama said in an email to supporters
titled "inevitable?" based on his remarks Wednesday on comedian Jay Leno's television talk show.
The attack line played off a notorious banner which framed President George W. Bush when he declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq on an aircraft carrier in 2003.
Obama's latest assault on Clinton came two days after he pleaded with supporters to send him more money to finance his battle against her
"entrenched political machine" and polls show her with a gaping opinion poll lead.
His campaign said Thursday he had raised 1.5 million dollars towards a target of 2.1 million dollars, in just two days.
Obama launched the appeal after candidates filed their latest quarterly fundraising totals to US authorities, which showed Clinton had nearly 35 million dollars left in her primary campaign kitty, compared to his 32 million.
A USA Today/Gallup national poll published Tuesday found 50 percent of Democrats and independent voters who lean Democratic would
back Clinton for the party nomination.
Twenty-one percent preferred Obama, and 13 percent said they would vote for former party vice presidential nominee John Edwards.
An average of polls by RealClearPolitics.com showed Clinton with a 26 point lead nationally, and a five point lead in the key early voting state
of Iowa, a 20 point lead in New Hampshire and a 13 point lead in South Carolina.
Before this week, Obama had launched veiled, implicit attacks on Clinton, rarely mentioning her by name in his speeches and media
appearances.
But the tough new rhetoric appears to augur a new phase in the campaign, and a realization that he must take concrete steps to tackle her
opinion poll lead.
Obama is not the only Democrat taking aim at the aura of inevitability that appears to be gathering around the Clinton campaign.
Former vice presidential nominee John Edwards's aides circulated a memo arguing that despite his third place position in national
Democratic polls, he was the candidate best placed to beat a Republican in the general election.
"We need a candidate who can compete anywhere in America and win," former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes said on behalf of the Edwards
campaign.
"Some pundits say a Democrat can't win in some places in the South, Midwest or West, but they're wrong."
Edwards lives in North Carolina, and as a southerner argues that he has broader appeal across vast swathes of rural America than Clinton,
who represents northeastern New York in the Senate and Obama who is from Illinois in the north.
However, polls show Edwards lagging badly behind his two rivals in the fight for the nomination, and he is betting his campaign on a strong
showing in the early voting state of Iowa, due to hold its nominating caucuses in early January.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ilFIjIUrITmB04iKzYYHB2ytrBnA
Obama, who styles himself as a break from the politics of rancor which he says has stifled Washington, is cranking up increasingly personal rhetoric against the former first lady.
"Hillary is not the first politician in Washington to declare 'Mission Accomplished' a little too soon," Obama said in an email to supporters
titled "inevitable?" based on his remarks Wednesday on comedian Jay Leno's television talk show.
The attack line played off a notorious banner which framed President George W. Bush when he declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq on an aircraft carrier in 2003.
Obama's latest assault on Clinton came two days after he pleaded with supporters to send him more money to finance his battle against her
"entrenched political machine" and polls show her with a gaping opinion poll lead.
His campaign said Thursday he had raised 1.5 million dollars towards a target of 2.1 million dollars, in just two days.
Obama launched the appeal after candidates filed their latest quarterly fundraising totals to US authorities, which showed Clinton had nearly 35 million dollars left in her primary campaign kitty, compared to his 32 million.
A USA Today/Gallup national poll published Tuesday found 50 percent of Democrats and independent voters who lean Democratic would
back Clinton for the party nomination.
Twenty-one percent preferred Obama, and 13 percent said they would vote for former party vice presidential nominee John Edwards.
An average of polls by RealClearPolitics.com showed Clinton with a 26 point lead nationally, and a five point lead in the key early voting state
of Iowa, a 20 point lead in New Hampshire and a 13 point lead in South Carolina.
Before this week, Obama had launched veiled, implicit attacks on Clinton, rarely mentioning her by name in his speeches and media
appearances.
But the tough new rhetoric appears to augur a new phase in the campaign, and a realization that he must take concrete steps to tackle her
opinion poll lead.
Obama is not the only Democrat taking aim at the aura of inevitability that appears to be gathering around the Clinton campaign.
Former vice presidential nominee John Edwards's aides circulated a memo arguing that despite his third place position in national
Democratic polls, he was the candidate best placed to beat a Republican in the general election.
"We need a candidate who can compete anywhere in America and win," former Georgia Governor Roy Barnes said on behalf of the Edwards
campaign.
"Some pundits say a Democrat can't win in some places in the South, Midwest or West, but they're wrong."
Edwards lives in North Carolina, and as a southerner argues that he has broader appeal across vast swathes of rural America than Clinton,
who represents northeastern New York in the Senate and Obama who is from Illinois in the north.
However, polls show Edwards lagging badly behind his two rivals in the fight for the nomination, and he is betting his campaign on a strong
showing in the early voting state of Iowa, due to hold its nominating caucuses in early January.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ilFIjIUrITmB04iKzYYHB2ytrBnA
