Obama campaign conference call discusses views from Pennsylvania on NAFTA, job losses, and the Clinton campaign

The Obama campaign held a conference call with International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa and Rep. Ryan Dvorak (D-ID) to discuss voter opinions in Pennsylvania and Indiana, and the role of Mark Penn in Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Hoffa said the current trend in Pennsylvania is that Clinton’s numbers are going down, and Obama is gaining on her. Hoffa said he has been campaigning for Obama at teamster’s conferences, talking about issues on trade, employee free choice, and Obama’s vision to keep jobs in the country and amend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He said the aftermath of NAFTA is “still going on, still devastating America.” Hoffa said that Obama told him he was going to amend NAFTA and reverse the provisions that provide subsidies and tax relief for companies that leave the United States. Dvorak said Indiana also started with support for Clinton, but momentum is now moving forward to support Obama.

Hoffa also said that the latest issue with Clinton’s former chief strategist Mark Penn has hurt her credibility, and the “smartest thing she can do is to jettison him.” When asked to comment on comparisons between Penn and Obama’s senior economic policy adviser Austan Goolsbee’s meeting with officials at the Canadian consulate, Hoffa said there was “no comparison” because Penn was getting paid to lobby, and Goolsbee was just attending a meeting.

Hoffa was also asked to compare the labor situation in Pennsylvania to Ohio. He said Ohio was perhaps even more devastated by job movement than Pennsylvania, but that even though Clinton beat Obama in Ohio, he is still closing in on her in Pennsylvania. He said the movement for Obama is surprising and encouraging, and that unions are working hard to support him.

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.