Clinton,
Obama spar over campaign donations
The Obama and Clinton campaigns are locked in a war
of words.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – The campaigns of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-New York,
and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, began a new war
of words Monday over reports that the Illinois
senator’s PAC may have directed a majority of its campaign contributions to
politicians in the key early nominating states.
"On the campaign trail, Senator Obama
is outspoken about his desire to reform the campaign finance system so it was
surprising to learn that he has been using his PAC in a manner that appears
to be inconsistent with the prevailing election laws," Clinton's campaign said in a statement.
Clinton's campaign said 68 percent of the donations from
Obama’s PAC, Hopefund, were given to officials in Iowa, New Hampshire
and South Carolina.
But Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the majority of the funds were given to
candidates outside the early primary states, and to
Democrats nationwide facing tough re-election fights.
"The latest personal attack from
Hillary Clinton is a completely false attempt to misrepresent Barack Obama’s full disclosure of his campaign
finances," Burton
said in a statement.
Clinton, Obama exchanges get nasty
Just a couple
of weeks ago, Sen. Hillary Clinton said she wasn't interested in attacking
her opponents -- she was interested in "tackling the problems of America."
But with her lead slipping, things have changed, and the New York senator has found herself in a
full out verbal war with Sen. Barack Obama. "In
politics, you can afford to ignore your opponents until you start to feel
them breathing down your neck," said CNN's senior political analyst Bill
Schneider. Clinton last week saw a 23-point lead over Obama in September
fall to 14 points, according to a CNN/WMUR New Hampshire presidential primary
poll. That poll came out a day after another poll in Iowa found Obama first in the state,
although his lead was within the sampling error. And as the race gets
tighter, it's also getting nastier. "I think the country is wondering
why two weeks ago [Clinton]
said she wasn't going to attack Democrats and nine days later she was,"
Robert Gibbs, communications director for the Obama campaign, told CNN on
Tuesday. According to the Clinton
camp, "the debate has moved." Pointing out differences in the two
candidates' health care plans, Ann Lewis, senior advisor for the Clinton campaign, said,
"We think these are important distinctions and think the public ought to
know about them." Those distinctions -- and many others -- have been
brought up by both campaigns numerous times in recent days. The Clinton
and Obama camps have started exchanging jabs over health care, fundraising
and foreign relations experience -- and the punches are getting personal."I think that I bring unique experience --
35 years of experience, including the eight years in the White House where I
was actively involved in issues both here at home and around the world,"
Clinton said
this week. But Obama
was quick to disagree: "If she wants to tout her experience by having
visited countries, that's fine. I don't think that [former Secretary of
State] Madeleine Albright would think that Hillary Clinton was the face of
foreign policy during the Clinton
administration," Obama said. The latest dispute comes a week after Clinton took a deep dig at Obama's foreign experience,
zeroing in on his remark that his "strongest" foreign policy
experience came from living in Indonesia as a child. The
Clinton-Obama camps got into a new war of words Monday over reports that
Obama's political action committee may have directed a majority of its
campaign contributions to politicians in the key early nominating states."On the campaign trail, Senator Obama is
outspoken about his desire to reform the campaign finance system so it was
surprising to learn that he has been using his PAC in a manner that appears
to be inconsistent with the prevailing election laws," Clinton's campaign said in a statement. Obama's
campaign then took aim at Clinton's
reluctance to release financial, fundraising and White House records in full.
"The latest personal attack from Hillary Clinton is a completely false
attempt to misrepresent Barack Obama's full
disclosure of his campaign finances," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said
in a statement, adding that Clinton
is in no position to point fingers until she discloses her own White House
records. Clinton also pointed fingers at
Obama's health care plan, calling it "confusing," a day after the Illinois senator said
his proposal would keep costs down more than any of his rivals' plans. "There's
a big difference between Sen. Obama and me on health care. I have a health
care plan that covers every single American. He does not," Clinton told reporters
Sunday. Obama was quick to swing back: "Senator Clinton's idea is that
we should force everyone to buy insurance," he said in a statement
released to CNN on Sunday. "She's not being straight with the American
people because she refuses to tell us how much she would fine people if they
couldn't afford insurance."Clinton and Obama
obviously aren't the only contenders in the Democratic race, but the other
candidates are largely staying on the sidelines of this slugfest. Former
North Carolina Sen. John Edwards
said he's paid no attention to the "sniping." When asked last week
if Clinton was warranted in criticizing Obama's foreign relations experience,
Edwards said, "Can I honestly tell you ... I spend not a nanosecond
listening to what each of them are saying sniping toward each other, so I
have no idea what you're talking about."
DDC
Students at SMC mull ban of Wal-Mart
HEATHER
WOODWARD
THE OLYMPIAN / LACEY -- Saint Martin's College's student government leaders
will consider a request Thursday to stop shopping at Wal-Mart with student
funds. Associated Students of Saint Martin's College receives dollars
generated from a student activity fee of $80 per semester for full-time
students.
Activity fees The request for Associated Students to
stop using those dollars at Wal-Mart came from Tip Wonhoff,
a 19-year-old sophomore who is president of the college's Democratic Donkey
Club. He regularly attends student government meetings and was sitting with
several student senators last week as they were talking about purchasing some
items at Wal-Mart for an Associated Students activity.
"I realized that my activity fee funds
were going to purchase things at Wal-Mart, and I thought 'Why not do something about it?' " said
Wonhoff, who sees Wal-Mart as negatively affecting
local businesses and jobs. "All they do is move jobs. They take away
from other existing stores that can't afford the low
overhead." Figures were not immediately available Tuesday
about how much the student group spends at Wal-Mart each year.
Community relations: Wal-Mart officials said they hope the student
leaders consider the company's positive contributions to communities such as Thurston County before they cast their vote.
"It's important for them to realize
that we employ many college-age students and associates across the state as
well as provide our low prices to customers, many of which are college
students," said Eric Berger, Wal-Mart's regional spokesman. "So, I
hope they consider those facts as they make their decision."
Not every student senator at Saint Martin's agrees with Wonhoff.
Keana Morrisey, a
20-year-old senator and Saint Martin's
junior, said she opposes his request to stop shopping at Wal-Mart. "The
proposal calls for supporting the local community," Morrisey
said of Wonhoff's measure. "I kind of believe
that Wal-Mart does support the local community because to me that means job
development. I think that is supporting our local community. She also
thinks it's the job of student leaders to stretch student activity dollars as
far as possible. "It's our first and foremost job to spend
students' money wisely," said Morrisey, citing
Wal-Mart's low prices.
The Saint Martin's
debate comes in the wake of local controversy over the world's largest
retailer. Currently, Thurston
County is home to one
Wal-Mart in the Hawks Prairie area of Lacey. But Wal-Mart has applied
to build a supercenter with a grocery store in Tumwater
-- a proposal that has been unpopular with many residents and some City
Council members -- and also might build a store in Yelm. There's now
also a six-month moratorium in place in Olympia
banning all new big-box stores.
And some Saint Martin's College students
say they want to do what they can to curtail the proliferation of new
Wal-Mart stores in Thurston
County. "We
think that one is too many, and three is ridiculous," Lennon Bronsema, a 21-year-old Saint Martin's
student who is president of the college's Social Action Club. "Three in
such a small community is overkill."
DEMOCRATIC
LAS VEGAS DEBATE part1