In San Antonio last night, Barack Obama stays on message: hope, change, transformation, etc.
Sound Bite: “If I am the nominee of this party, I will not allow us to be distracted by the same politics that seeks to divide us with false charges and meaningless labels. In this campaign we will not stand for the politics that uses religion as a wedge and patriotism as a bludgeon.
Oh yeah, there’s still a Republican race going on — sort of. Here’s Mike Huckabee at a rally in Waco, Texas channeling Barack Obama: “Let’s change this election and let’s change this country.”
“Plan”
Barack Obama goes all John Edwards in this 30-second spot airing in Ohio: “The deck has been stacked against” most Americans in favor of “Wall Street.” But his economic plan will change all that.
“Oportunidad”
This spanish language ad airing in Texas highlights Obama’s college tuition plan.
Campaigning in Texas, Hillary Clinton goes with the rock start clip — the walk through the dimly lit stadium bowels before emerging into the bright arena filled with screaming, adoring, chanting fans. Hey, it works for Barack.
Hillary says her “very first political job nearly 36 years ago” was “registering Hispanic voters” in South Texas. (Even money says she also found time way back then to help some struggling steel workers or somebody in Ohio. Stay tuned.)
Even though there’s virtually no diifference between Hillary Clinton’s and Barack Obama’s positions on most issues, Senator Clinton likes to hammer on the technical policy distinctions between their health plans. As voters nod off, she plows on.
Last night’s Democratic debate at the University of Texas was pretty sedate except for a dustup over Barack Obama borrowing lines from a speech by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. Obama minimizes the incident and says charges of “plagarism” are “silly.” Not so silly, says Hillary Clinton.
Sound Bite: “If your candidacy is going to be about words, then they should be your own words . . . Lifting whole passages from someone else’s speeches is not change you can beleive in, it’s change you can Xerox.”
Speaking at a rally in Beaumont, Texas yesterday, Bill Clinton assessed his wife’s prospects: “If she wins in Texas and Ohio I think she will be the nominee. If you don’t deliver for her, I don’t think she can do it. It’s all on you.” Hey, no pressure, amigos.
