Hillary Clinton on Monday pitched a plan to stop a mortgage crisis degenerating into a full-blown recession as new vitriol spilled over in her Democratic White House struggle with Barack Obama. Obama’s camp said Clinton would do anything to win, while her aides accused him of stooping to gutter politics.
Senator Barack Obama won a coveted endorsement from fellow Democrat Bill Richardson on Friday as the State Department apologized for snooping into his passport files and those of his two main White House rivals. The decision by the Hispanic governor of New Mexico is a victory for Obama and could improve the Illinois Democrat’s chances of winning over Latino voters.
Contract workers for the United States State Department improperly viewed Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama’s passport records three times this year in what his campaign called ”an outrageous breach” of his privacy. The incidents, which occurred on January 9, February 21 and March 14, were quickly reported to lower-level State Department officials.
The highest and oldest wall is that which separates ”us” from ”them”. This is described today as a great divide of religions or ”a clash of civilisations”, which are false concepts, propagated to provide ”the other” — a target for fear and hatred that justifies invasion and plunder, writes John Pilger.
Barack Obama faced potential damage to his campaign on Thursday after television networks aired footage of sermons by the former pastor of Obama’s church likening the Democratic frontrunner to Jesus and declaring: ”God damn America.”
Barack Obama on Monday ridiculed rival Hillary Clinton’s repeated hints she would take him for the number two spot on her presidential ticket, accusing her of playing political games in their hard-fought Democratic nominating race. Obama, campaigning in Mississippi ahead of the state’s contest on Tuesday, said he has won more states than Clinton.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are preparing for a long and potentially brutal struggle for the Democratic presidential nomination, with both campaign teams hinting darkly about resorting to even more negative tactics as the race progresses.
Hillary Clinton won a critical showdown with Barack Obama in Ohio on Tuesday to breathe new life into her campaign and extend the Democratic presidential race, while John McCain clinched the Republican nomination and looked ahead to the November election.
Barack Obama bids on Tuesday to knock Hillary Clinton out of the White House race after a mud-slinging campaign that Democratic grandees fear is helping nobody but Republican heir John McCain. But heading into crunch battles in Ohio and Texas, the former first lady is full of fire and has been eviscerating her charismatic rival’s qualifications.
For an American TV audience, he had all the credentials to be a successful celebrity chef. Robert Irvine was a Briton, apparently with royal connections, a knighthood and experience that included cooking for four United States presidents. His show Dinner: Impossible quickly became a favourite on the cable channel Food Network.
Bedrooms (or the Oval Office, as the case may be) and boardrooms: they tend to share a characteristic — closed curtains. And when you ask the big guy whether he’s been fooling around, literally or figuratively, the answer all too often is "trust me". But once in a blue moon a reluctant witness comes forward with a stained blue dress. Does Hillary trust her man? No way.
It did not look like a political wake. Senator Hillary Clinton emerged into a basketball stadium in Houston wearing a bright red jacket, beaming broadly and waving at thousands of screaming supporters. Gene Green, a Texan congressman, introduced her with confident words predicting her return to the White House.
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/ 27 February 2008
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton clashed sharply in a high-stakes one-on-one debate on Tuesday, accusing each other of falsely portraying their stances on healthcare, trade and other issues. Clinton, who needs to win next week in Ohio and Texas, went on the attack early in the debate at the Cleveland State University.
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/ 26 February 2008
Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama go head to head on Tuesday in their final showdown before the crucial Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4. The Democratic debate in Cleveland could be Clinton’s last chance to impress voters and attempt to halt some of the momentum Obama has gained.
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/ 24 February 2008
Even though Mike Huckabee is still battling for the Republican presidential nomination despite long odds, he said he won’t ”overstay his welcome”. Then he did precisely that on Saturday night, lingering on the set in a scripted gag on the comedy skit show Saturday Night Live despite repeated cues to leave the stage.
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/ 21 February 2008
John McCain denied a romantic relationship with a female American telecommunications lobbyist on Thursday and said a report by the New York Times suggesting favouritism for her clients is ”not true”. The likely Republican presidential nominee described the woman in question, lobbyist Vicki Iseman, as a friend.
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/ 21 February 2008
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton criticised rival Barack Obama as a big dreamer with little substance on Wednesday as she sought to slow his momentum from 10 straight victories in the race for the party’s United States presidential nomination.
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/ 19 February 2008
After seeing graphic reminders of the Rwandan genocide, United States President George Bush on Tuesday called for increased international efforts to help Darfur. Bush visited a memorial to the 1994 genocide, in which 800 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered by Hutu extremists.
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/ 17 February 2008
Al Gore, who lost to George Bush in the 2000 presidential election, is becoming a key potential power broker in the increasingly bitter battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to win the Democrat nomination. Gore emerged on Saturday as a possible mediator who could negotiate a resolution if the primary campaign ends in a stalemate.
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/ 16 February 2008
President George Bush set off on Friday on a five-nation tour of Africa, touting American compassion for the poor on a continent where he already basks in high approval ratings. Bush aims to use the week-long Africa voyage, likely his last as US president, to bolster his legacy and highlight efforts to resolve regional disputes.
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/ 15 February 2008
Democrat Barack Obama is the ”Yes We Can” candidate of the 2008 presidential race, an Elvis-like presence riding a wave of popular enthusiasm unseen in United States politics in many years. By contrast, rival Hillary Clinton is the policy wonk who says she has the solutions to what ails America, and she frequently lists them.
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/ 13 February 2008
Barack Obama easily won three more Democratic nominating contests on Tuesday, extending his winning streak over rival Hillary Clinton and building momentum in a hard-fought United States presidential race. Obama rolled to decisive victories in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, running his hot streak to eight consecutive wins.
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/ 12 February 2008
Hillary Clinton’s stuttering White House campaign faces the prospect of three new hammer blows on Tuesday, with Democratic rival Barack Obama tipped to sweep a trio of Washington-area nominating contests. Clinton insisted her historic quest was in good shape, despite opinion polls that suggest she will tumble to defeat.
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/ 11 February 2008
Hillary Clinton shook up her campaign as Democratic rival Barack Obama overtook in the race for delegates to win the party nomination for the White House. Obama is expected to extend his lead in the so-called Potomac Primary on Tuesday after defeating Clinton on the weekend.
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/ 6 February 2008
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will have no time to pause after yesterday’s Super Tuesday performances before they head off into a fresh 72-hour marathon of coast-to-coast contests. Seven states are at stake, worth 467 delegates, almost a quarter of the 2 025 delegates needed for eventual victory.
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/ 4 February 2008
Hillary Clinton tried on Sunday to bring Barack Obama’s aspirational candidacy back to earth, repeatedly accusing him of misleading voters in an attempt to halt his poll momentum ahead of the Super Tuesday contest. With opinion polls showing Obama making significant gains, Clinton tried to undermine Obama’s central appeal of being a politician who operated above the fray.
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/ 1 February 2008
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton shared a debate stage alone for the first time on Thursday, striking a cordial tone and highlighting their opportunity to make history as the next United States president. ”Just by looking at us, you can tell we aren’t more of the same,” said Clinton, a New York senator who would be the first woman US president.
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/ 29 January 2008
It was as close as it gets to a coronation. In front of a rapturous, chanting crowd, Senator Ted Kennedy on Monday enfolded Barack Obama into a hug, and in that instant drew a clear line of succession from the Democratic hero of the past to a younger generation.
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/ 28 January 2008
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton jockeyed for position on Sunday in a bruising United States presidential race after Obama scored a landslide win in a South Carolina primary tinged with the issue of race. ”I think [the result] speaks extraordinarily well, not just for folks in the South, but all across the country,” said Obama.
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/ 27 January 2008
Barack Obama easily won South Carolina’s bitterly contested Democratic presidential primary with the help of heavy black support on Saturday, dealing a setback to rival Hillary Clinton after a week of political brawling. John Edwards finished third in a state he won during his failed 2004 race.
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/ 26 January 2008
Sixteen years ago, South Carolina and the United States were wowed by a new candidate who seemed less politician than force of nature. He packed halls and school gyms till they were bursting, promising that a new day was coming. Aged just 46, his arrival seemed to presage a generational shift.
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/ 24 January 2008
At first sight, Salon Fabulous doesn’t quite live up to its name. A trailer in a car park in a neighbourhood of dilapidated houses and rusting cars on the outskirts of Columbia, the state capital of South Carolina, it doesn’t hold out much promise of transformation.