Hillary hangs tough- doesn’t trade punches with Obama, criticizes “imperial” presidency

A confident, focused Hillary Clinton took the stage as the last of the three presidential candidates to speak at the annual Associated Press luncheon this afternoon. Clinton focused on promoting the initiatives she supports and, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, avoided slamming her Democratic adversary Barack Obama and Republican opponent, John McCain.

The introduction to Clinton’s speech was similar to McCain’s, in that it discussed her support of a “shield law” to a crowd composed of mainly journalists, whom she thanked for their “courage” to report the news.

Clinton, like Obama’s speech did Monday afternoon, discussed the “power of the presidency” that she claimed has been abused under the Bush Administration. Clinton noted her intention to eliminate the “imperial” presidency Bush operates under. She criticized the current administration for “ignoring” and “rewriting” laws as they see fit.

Clinton forecast a multitude of challenges the incoming administration will have to face (fixing the economy, maintaining national security, and solving the crisis in Iraq), as she painted a portrait of herself as a leader, and longtime advocate of programs focused on helping all Americans, such as universal health care.

While Obama’s speech opened by discussing how the struggles he faced growing up have helped him understand how to relate to “everyday” Americans, Clinton modestly mentioned that she understood she was “blessed” to grow up in a middle-class household and, with government aid, fund a law-school education.

Clinton described her presidency as one that would restore the “evidence based decision making” that the Bush Administration, she argued, has strayed away from. Clinton called for an “immediate freeze on housing foreclosures” and, when asked about the role played by race in the election, said she wanted voters to base their decisions on the candidates based on their policy views, not gender or skin color.

As Clinton’s speech came to a close, she mentioning the tremendous economic success America achieved under her husband, Bill Clinton, and the lessons she learned watching him build an American powerhouse.

Obama bin Laden? Senator addresses AP luncheon

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama addressed the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Newspaper Association of America at the Associated Press annual luncheon. Obama's speech took full advantage of his trademark public speaking skills. More critical of his democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in his opening statement than attendees of the luncheon might have expected, Obama talked about how he was not born into any amount of wealth and understood what it took for an American to work hard to succeed.

Obama was critical of the Bush Administration's tax cuts for the wealthy. Addressing the issue of Republican presidential candidate John McCain saying he was "out of touch" with the American people, Obama said that McCain was using his words against him and that he would "like to have" a debate with McCain over who was better able to relate to the American people.

Far and away, the most surprising moment of the luncheon came when the speech moderator accidentally referred to Osama bin Laden as "Obama bin Laden." Addressing a sincerely shocked audience, Obama coolly

corrected the moderator then noted this was not the first time he had heard such a misstatement.

Also, Obama said John McCain was running for "George Bush's third term" and that he was the candidate running "for the American people." McCain, said Obama, did not understand how to solve the foreclosure crisis sweeping through America.

Stressing he wanted to get the public more involved in politics should he become President, Obama said that our country needed to find a balance between protecting individual liberties and protecting our security regarding the Shield Law and FISA.

When addressing the fact that he is often labeled as being "too liberal," Senator Obama said he ran on a platform that is not liberal nor conservative, but one that is focused on uniting society to solve problems. Obama described Hillary Clinton as a "formidable" opponent, and said her reluctance to withdraw from the presidential candidacy race helped attract interest in each campaign and was actually good for the Democratic party.

Hoyer, other representatives urge union leaders to vote Democratic

The Building and Construction Trades Department held the first of its three-day 100th annual Legislative Conference with over 3,000 union leaders from around the country. President Mark Ayers addressed the crowd and introduced guest speakers, urging the audience to support whichever Democratic candidate becomes the presidential nominee and ignore the “shameless distortions, falsehoods, and fear-mongering” of the “conservative political playbook.” He claimed that “the America we know and love, the America we have and will defend, deserves better than John McCain.”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) called on unions to organize for the benefit of the American middle class, citing that union membership is at its lowest since the Great Depression. He advocated inclusion of prevailing wage provisions in the Davis Bacon Act, and emphasized his approval for Congress’s recent $168 billion economic stimulus package but said he would push for more action if it proved inadequate. He also asked the crowd to stand up if they felt they were better off than they were seven years ago, and no one stood. On this note, he urged the crowd to work together to elect a candidate who would work for change.

Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) also addressed the crowd, and claimed that “this administration has screwed American laborers” and said that she voted against the economic stimulus package because she did not believe it was an adequate solution. Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) spoke to the crowd about the need to cross party lines in order to support unions and laborers.

Senator McCain delivers enthusiastic address at Associated Press luncheon

Presidential hopeful John McCain (R-AZ) spoke at the Associated Press Annual Meeting today, answering a wide variety of questions concerning everything from his relationship with the press to his stances on the war and ideas about restoring the sagging American economy.

McCain talked about how he hoped to build a strong relationship with the press, who he said often misinterpret his statements. Regarding the Shield Law, McCain said he felt the public should know what goes on behind "closed doors" by government officials, but at the same time laws and courts should outline what information can and cannot be released. Speaking to a group of reporters obviously concerned about such free- speech issues, the Senator said anything that could potentially allow Islamic radicals to have an advantage against us should be questioned.


McCain was asked if he thought one of his democratic opponents, Senator Barack Obama, was an "elitist." McCain responded by saying that he did not know Obama well enough to make such an assessment, but that the Senator's viewpoints are "fundamentally different" than his and not necessarily correct.

On the topic of America's economic situation, McCain was asked if he thought America was in a recession. McCain said he "certainly thought so," but that he was not concerned with terminology- he all he needed to know that "Americans are hurting," and that something has to be done to repair our economy. Describing himself as a "Teddy Roosevelt Republican" McCain explained that he thought there was a "role for the government" in business.

McCain said he would be "bothered" if he received votes based solely on the color of his skin, being that Obama is black. McCain emphasized that he would win voters over with his stances on critical issues, and did not feel he would lose voters due to his age.

Clinton campaign reveals breast cancer policy initiatives

Today a representative from Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign hosted a conference call to unveil her new breast cancer policy initiatives, which include increased funding for both research and treatment options for low-income women.


Domestic Policy Director Catherine Brown said that Sen. Clinton will appear on the Ellen DeGeneres Show tonight to unveil her plan to find a cure for breast cancer in the near future. Clinton’s plan will include $300 million per year in increased funding for the National Institutes of Health’s breast cancer research, which currently receives $750 million annually. The ultimate goal is to double this number to $1.5 billion over the next 10 years. Brown said that Clinton has committed to reaching this number without increasing the national deficit or drawing funding away from other research, and plans to instead relocate money from companies that are shipping jobs overseas to breast cancer research.

Brown said Clinton’s plan focuses on linking breast cancer and environmental research to find correlations between the two that could lead to prevention measures. The plan also includes the continuation of the breast cancer research stamp and treatment measures that would eliminate Medicare co-payments for mammograms for low-income women.

The campaign declined to comment on questions regarding the resignation of Clinton’s chief strategist, Marc Penn, on the grounds that the call was dedicated to policy issues.