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.

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.

Presidential campaigns discuss where education fits in

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) is meeting in Washington, D.C. this week for their 2008 Legislative Conference. They held an education policy discussion this morning with the presidential campaigns. Catherine Brown from Sen. Clinton’s campaign, Phil Handy from Sen. McCain’s campaign, and Steve Robinson from Sen. Obama’s campaign each spoke on their candidate’s top issues for education.

Brown said Clinton has five key priorities for education: strengthening human capital, starting education earlier, raising expectations and standards, improving school infrastructure, and helping at-risk students. She said Clinton is critical of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and would like to partner with states and the local level of education to provide flexibility while still sticking to the standards.

Handy said McCain believes in the principals that drove NCLB, and believes in assessment, but that assessment numbers should tell the truth and that usable data should be made available for parents and teachers. He said McCain is committed to collaboration with states and local education, and that he is a promoter of home schooling and charter schools.

Robinson said Obama also believes in the goals of NCLB for desegregating data on student achievement and identifying schools for improvement, but prefers a program to make every child a skilled graduate. He said Obama is focused on early learning, increasing research and development, expanding programs that work and using the data from them, revising standards and assessments, and that his number one priority is how to attract, prepare, develop, retain, and reward teachers.

The CCSSO also held a discussion called “Presidential Politics: Where Does Education Fit In?” with Gov. Roy Romer, Chairman of ED in ’08. Romer suggested that the future president of the United States should create a new partnership with the governors and chief school officers from all 50 states to find a way to have correct expectations and measurements for education throughout the country. He said key issues are the quality of teaching and finding a way to assess standards.

Romer said the measurements should be against the top ten nations in the world, since students will be competing with students from those nations for jobs. He said education is important to the solution of the nation’s economic problems, and is at the base of what he said are the four critical issues to the presidential campaign: national security, the economy, health care, and global warming.

Romer said that in this partnership, the state officers will be responsible for going back to their states and implementing the plans while the president will be responsible for funding the design and the administration of the programs.

Clinton conference call address Obama ads

The Clinton campaign had a conference call today to address ads the Obama campaign is running in Pennsylvania. Mark Nevins, the communications director for Pennsylvania, spoke about the ads and wording used in them. Apparently the ads state how Obama never took money from oil companies, yet TJ Rooney, the state party Chairman in Pennsylvania, notes that it’s illegal for any campaign to do so. Rooney also claims that Obama has taken over $200,000 dollars from employees of oil companies. The Clinton campaign has launched a radio campaign in Pennsylvania to refute the comments. Howard Wolfsen, the national communications director for the campaign, added on that while Obama claims he didn’t take money from oil companies, he doesn’t say that no one can.

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.