Hillary Clinton

Bill Clinton will speak at a fund-raiser tonight for Representative Ed Towns, whose challenger, Kevin Powell, is trying to frame Towns' support of Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary as a political liability.

The event is taking place at the home of attorney Sanford Rubenstein, on East 64th Street. Clinton is expected to speak around 7:30 p.m. Others expected to attend include Representatives Anthony Weiner and Yvette Clarke, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

The invitation, which was forwarded to me by a reader, also lists notable figures like Governor David Paterson, City Comptroller Bill Thompson and Representative Charlie Rangel, although it doesn't say whether they will attend.

For most of the summer, Biden contracts were trading at around 10 on the Intrade political market, while Evan Bayh contracts traded much higher – peaking at 40 about 10 days ago. But look at what’s happened in just the last day, as the media has begun portraying Biden as the most likely selection.

Other notable values on the Democratic V.P. market: Tim Kaine is now trading at 15.4, which is actually up slightly from yesterday, and Kathleen Sebelius is at 14.8 – almost a five-point jump for her from yesterday. Hillary Clinton is at 9.3, unchanged from yesterday. But maybe we shouldn’t read too much into this: Wesley Clark is at an absurdly overvalued 13.8.

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney is top at 31.1, followed closely by Tim Pawlnety at 29.9.

When it comes to Barack Obama’s running-mate search, the question of “when?” is now being asked just as often as “who?”

The Politico is reporting that Obama’s decision is expected this week – but that it also might come “as late as this weekend,” or even “the beginning of next week” at the Democratic convention. Which doesn’t really narrow it down at all. Marc Ambinder, meanwhile, notes that Obama is scheduled for a down day in Chicago this Friday and that “Democratic advance folks are being called to Chicago,” suggesting an end-of-week announcement could be in the works. Or maybe not.

It’s worth noting that the last time a VP choice was announced during a convention was in 1988, when George H.  read more »

Tyra Banks kept her talk-show audience waiting for over two hours while she hung out backstage. During the taping, she talked over her guests and made everyone miserable. [P6]

Musician John Mayer held an impromptu press conference in Soho explaining his break-up with Jennifer Aniston. [TMZ]

Sean “Diddy” Combs ignored part-time girlfriend Cassie at the Empire Hotel. [P6]

Hillary Clinton reportedly visited a New York plastic surgeon’s office for “a combination of “injectables.” [NYDN]

Hillary Clinton must be feeling John McCain's pain. For months and months she battled against Obamamania -- the lofty rhetoric, the swooning girls, the giant crowds and the massive turnout of young people. She tried to mock and belittle his language. (Who can forget the cringe-inducing "Change you can Xerox"?) She tried to raise doubts with the " 3 a.m." ad about Barack Obama's readiness to serve as commander in chief. But in the end she lost. Now McCain is trying his hand, using some of the very same arguments.

His Celebrity ad and a subsequent one dubbed the "Fan Club" go straight at Obama's mass-movement popularity.  read more »

Earlier this week, I wrote about the recent history of Democratic convention keynote speakers and how many had gone on to national prominence, and even – in the case of 2004 keynoter Barack Obama – to a future Democratic nomination. This track record is partly attributable to the actual speeches that were delivered (particularly in the cases of Obama and Mario Cuomo), but also to common sense: The keynote slot tends to go to promising leaders who are seen as representing the future of the party.

Not surprisingly, then, the man who is scheduled to deliver this year’s keynote address, former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, now finds himself  read more »

If, as I have argued relentlessly that he should, Barack Obama decides that an established reputation for national security and foreign policy expertise is a prerequisite for any potential running-mate, the question then becomes: Who passes the test?

Tim Kaine, eight years removed from a then-weak mayoralty and just 32 months removed from a lieutenant governor’s office, clearly doesn’t. (Maybe this is why, besides today’s two-weeks-too-late New York Times profile, the Kaine chatter has mostly vanished, especially after Russian tanks rolled into Georgia.) Neither does Kathleen Sebelius, who’s also seen as one of Obama’s personal favorites. If Obama were now leading John McCain by ten points, it’d probably be fair to assume he’d pick one of these governors.  read more »

Per Marc Ambinder, we now have formal word of an agreement between the Clinton and Obama campaigns that calls for both candidates’ names to be placed in nomination at the convention in order to “honor and celebrate” all of their supporters, according to a joint statement.

As I wrote yesterday, the Obama campaign didn’t have much choice here. The official purpose of a convention is to nominate a presidential candidate, and that can only be done two ways: by acclimation or by a roll call of the states.

If the Obama campaign had gone the acclimation route (as a way of avoiding a formal vote in which hundreds of Clinton delegates might dissent), the protests from Clinton’s die-hard delegates (there are many of them) would be deafening and would produce video clips that would be played over and over, completely defeating the purpose of an acclimation motion.  read more »

Apparently it's not just fake monsters that drive Web site traffic during the dog days of summer: According to a press release from The Atlantic's press reps, the magazine's site has seen a traffic increase after posting internal Clinton '08 memos as part of Joshua Green's The Front-Runner's Fall, from the September issue.

From the release:

On Tuesday, August 12, traffic to TheAtlantic.com reached an all-time high as the site posted a highly-anticipated article by Joshua Green about leaked memos from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. With nearly 1.3 million pageviews, it received 150% more traffic than the previous record day (799,000) and almost three times the traffic of the daily site average (450,000).  read more »

Marc Ambinder has an interesting post about the debate within Hillary Clinton’s campaign over whether to pursue a formal roll call vote at the convention. After noting that some advisors oppose the idea because there would inevitably be slippage (perhaps considerable) between Clinton’s primary season delegate total and her roll call total, Ambinder writes that:

Other Clinton aides note that Bill Clinton was generous enough to give Jerry Brown a roll call vote in 1992 even though Brown had been sharply and personally critical of Hillary Clinton during the primary campaign. Indeed, symbolic roll call votes are regular parts of conventions.  read more »

In this week's paper, I profiled some of the leading figures in the group of Hillary loyalists making the Obama campaign nervous before the Democratic convention. But the phenomenon also has foot soldiers like Carol Fasano.

Ms. Fasano's apartment in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn has two Hillary stickers on the door. Inside, Bill and Hillary photographs, some bought off ebay, hang on the wall. Her cat Billy, named after Bill Clinton, slinks around the heavily upholstered couches and the armchair where she sat in front of a fan, wearing a blue house dress and sipping ice water from a straw. Ms. Fasano receives and avidly reads the anti-Obama Electibility Watch e-mail and has replied asking for more than her share of 18 superdelegates to lobby.  read more »

You’ve probably seen the news that Mark Warner, the former Virginia governor and the odds-on favorite to replace John Warner in the Senate next year, has been tapped to deliver the keynote address at the upcoming Democratic convention.

It’s causing a mild stir because many believed that the keynote slot had already been given to Hillary Clinton, who is slated to speak on the same night (Tuesday) as Warner. So is this a slap in the face to Clinton and her supporters?

Probably not. The fact is that Clinton’s speech, whether it’s marketed as the keynote address or note, will be delivered in the plum 10:00 P.  read more »

Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild doesn’t look like a radical.

Surrounded by bike paths, ponds and the Atlantic Ocean in her Martha’s Vineyard farmhouse, not far from where Bill and Hillary Clinton usually summer, the lifelong Democrat and Clinton fund-raiser opened a laptop to her “Together4Us” Web site, an online petition that features Hillary Clinton looking luminous above a series of demands made of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party.

Ms. de Rothschild, 54, dressed in matching blue pants and sweater, blond hair tucked behind her ears, said she plans to send copies of the more than 6,000 signatures she has collected to superdelegates, Mr.  read more »

Kornacki recalls that Hillary Clinton once played an important unifying role at a Democratic convention.

With all of the talk about what roles Hillary and Bill Clinton will play at the upcoming Democratic convention – and whether Clinton will allow her name to be placed in nomination for a roll call vote – it's probably worth looking back to the 1992 convention, when the Clintons dealt with similar issues, but from a much different perspective.

Back then, they were the winners, with Bill emerging from the Democratic primaries with more than enough delegates to secure a first-ballot nomination. But as the July convention in New York approached, two of his primary-season opponents – Paul Tsongas and Jerry Brown – each stubbornly clung to their large delegate blocs (more than 500 each), attempting to use threats of rules fights and roll call votes as leverage.  read more »

The notion that Barack Obama would ask Hillary Clinton to join him on the Democratic ticket was something between far-fetched and delusional when it was introduced months ago. And it remains problematic now, weeks (or maybe even days) before Obama at last reveals his selection. Still, something significant has changed since early June, when the Democratic race ended and Obama set off to unify the party and reintroduce himself to the broader November electorate.

Back then, an air of supreme confidence – if not outright hubris – surrounded his campaign, and for good reason. Every historical and statistical indicator pointed to a Democratic victory in the fall, and turnout in the party’s primaries – nearly 40 million voters – had shattered all previous records.  read more »

Harmony-building joint exercises notwithstanding, there's still plenty of animosity toward Barack Obama in the Clinton camp at the major-supporter level.

Here's an email sent out by donor Ricki Lieberman last night to other Clinton supporters urging them not to give up on the idea of getting Hillary nominated in Denver. The event she refers to is this one.

This evening at a "thank you, Hillraisers" event, Senator Clinton told me how honored she is by the people who are working to have her name put into nomination and appreciative of those signing the petition. So, like the proverbial laser, I am focusing on getting Hillary's name in nomination and nominated in Denver.  read more »

Hillary Clinton held a private meeting for supporters last night at Cipriani's, thanking them for their help during the primary.

Introduced by Senator Chuck Schumer, who spoke about local issues in Mount Vernon and Westchester County, Clinton addressed key supporters, including Hassan Nemazee, Alan Patricof, and Fred Hochberg, and elected officials like Tom DiNapoli and Tom Suozzi.

According to one of the attendees, Clinton did not discuss her future plans.

The event wasn't explicitly a fund-raiser, but at one point Patricof asked guests, once again, to work to help Clinton erase her campaign debt.

UPDATE: The attendee described Clinton as "very much at peace" and characterized the meeting as a sort of final thank you for the campaign.  read more »

Appearing on WNYC's Brian Lehrer Show (hosted today by Amy Eddings), Chuck Schumer praised Barack Obama and said he isn't worried about Obama's lack of progress in the general election polls because he's still an unknown figure to voters.

Schumer said the polls will swing to the Democat "as people get to know Obama--and particularly if he campaigns on issues. " Then he added, "With one caveat: they do have to hit back."

The message behind McCain's "Celeb" ad, Schumer said, was, "He's not one of us, he's a celebrity, he's an elitist".

"That's what they did with John Kerry," Schumer said, adding, "I would have been a little tougher."

Asked if he had any suggestions for Obama's V.P. pick Schumer replied, "Not publicly."

It was pretty clear back when Hillary Clinton first used the line, "I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002," that no matter who won the Democratic primary, her praise for McCain would return at some point in the general election.

Here's McCain's new Web ad.

Hillary Clinton is going to answer questions live tomorrow at noon on her web site, according to a new video she sent to supporters just now.

“Please continue to check in at Hillary Clinton.com” for updates about the Democratic convention, and events she’ll be attending, she says. “We want you to be the first to know. So please, stay tuned.”

Here's Hillary Clinton's routine at Gracie Mansion last night about the mayor's remarkable interest in her presidential campaign experiences.

Michael Bloomberg welcomed Hillary Clinton back into New York’s political scene with a party at Gracie Mansion last night, closing the two-hour party with a live chorus singing “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.”

Among the guests were Governor David Paterson, Senator Chuck Schumer, Representative Charlie Rangel, Barbara Walters, Chevy Chase and Tina Brown. Inside Edition sent a crew.

After trading jokes about presidential ambitions with the mayor, Clinton told the crowd of political leaders, business tycoons and reporters that she’s happily back at her job as New York’s junior senator.

Standing at a podium beneath a white tent in the mansion’s back yard, Clinton told the crowd she’s glad to see “so many of my friends, catching up with all of you, knowing that many of you put your ideas and your requests on hold, and now, the hold is off.  read more »

Michael Bloomberg told reporters at a press conference in Brooklyn that the party he’s throwing for Hillary Clinton tonight is just that--a party. It’s not a fund-raiser.

“I did not plan to help Hillary Clinton with her campaign debt," the mayor said. "She did not ask me and I don’t plan to do that.”

The party, he said, "[is] going to be a nice, light-hearted affair” and “a nice way to welcome her back.”

“I’m going to pick up the expenses, the incremental expenses on that [event] but I have no intention of helping her or anybody else out with their campaign debt," he said. "I’ve got a debt of my own. I spent a lot of money on campaigning.”

Clinton’s presidential campaign owes millions of dollars.

Susie Tompkins Buell, a former Clinton bundler who has persistently criticized Barack Obama since he won the Democratic primary, is incensed about a new Ludacris song that praises Obama but also uses salty language and refers to Hillary Clinton as a "bitch."

"I think it's an opportunity for Senator Obama to stand up," said Buell, who is not a regular Ludacris listener. "I have not heard it, I have seen certain quotes from this, I don't know, do you call them songs? What do you call it?"

"It's just unacceptable. If it's true that he is on Senator Obama's iPod quite a bit, he's got to distance himself.  read more »

Hillary Clinton is about to get back out there.

The public has seen surprisingly little of her in the weeks following her obligatory post-primary unity appearances with Barack Obama, as she operated under cover of headline-resistant Senate releases like “Senator Clinton Welcomes Girls Nation Representative from Flushing” and “Senator Clinton Welcomes Passage of Her Measure to Improve Training for Medical Professionals in Underserved Areas.”

This was a function, in large part, of the fact that the Obama campaign has simply had priorities—like, say, jetting around the world in a high-wattage display of commander-in-chief-ness—other than deploying Mrs. Clinton. Apparently, they’re ready now.  read more »

At a fund-raiser in Williamsburg last night, a Kevin Powell supporter tried to allay concerns about Powell’s violent past with a little humor, and stoke enthusiasm for ousting 13-term incumbent Representative Ed Towns.

Isaac Abraham, a Hasidic store owner now running for City Council, criticized Towns for being unresponsive to a housing issue in the late 1990's from behind a podium, next to Powell, and front a group of about 50 other Hasidic men.

He went on, “And just touching on a sensitive issue--I must bring it up because obviously some people are trying to take advantage of it.”

(He was referencing Powell's much-discussed past which includes domestic violence.  read more »

Anthony Weiner, who has been a loyal supporter of Hillary Clinton, just hired one of her former staffers. Starting last week, press releases from Weiner’s office listed a new contact person: deputy press secretary Angie Hu.

Hu worked most recently on Clinton’s presidential campaign as a research associate. Before that, she was at This Week with George Stephanopoulos (another Clinton alum!).  read more »

Other Clinton staffers have been picking up new gigs: former spokesman Howard Wolfson is a commentator on Fox News, and it made some waves in the political world when former campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was hired to be the assistant to Barack Obama's running mate, whoever that

Shortly after ten o’clock on the night of Thursday, August 28, tens of millions of Americans will be seated in front of their television screens, victims of the broadcast networks’ blanket coverage of the final hour of the final night of the Democratic National Convention.

And the Obama campaign, which has moved that evening’s proceedings from a cozy N.B.A. arena to a giant N.F.L. stadium, thinks it knows how every broadcast outlet will cover the ten o’clock hour: overhead shorts of the jam-packed, 80,000-seat venue, perhaps a clip or two of John F. Kennedy (who accepted his party’s 1960 nomination at the massive Los Angeles Coliseum), and numerous references to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which just so happens to have been delivered on another August 28, back in 1963.  read more »

Barack Obama's response to one of Tom Brokaw's six attempts to engage him on his running-mate search on yesterday's Meet the Press, which I wrote about last night, is getting some attention today.

Asked by Brokaw whether geography will dictate his selection, Obama said:

"I'm going to want somebody with integrity. I'm going to want somebody with independence, who's willing to tell me where he thinks or she thinks I'm wrong. And I'm going to want somebody who shares a vision of the country where we need to go, that we've got to fundamentally change not only our policies, but how our politics works, how business is done in Washington.  read more »

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Representative Charlie Rangel, who has recently faced a flurry of tough , intense press coverage, is having what appears to be an enormous birthday party for himself at Central Park's Tavern on the Green on Wednesday, August 6.

The invitation notes that Bill and Hillary Clinton, David Paterson, Chuck Schumer, Andrew Cuomo, Tom DiNapoli, Malcolm Smith, Bill Thompson and Christine Quinn will be there. The "special guest" is Howard Dean.

The event will be a fund-raiser for Rangel's campaign committee, the Victory Fund. The committee is highlighting the "top ten targeted house races," all of which are in the DCCC's "Red to Blue" project.  read more »

Here's an image that must be a welcome boost for Representative Ed Towns, who faces a primary challenge from former Real World guy Kevin Powell. The picture is from an event happening now about the importance of keeping the Brooklyn housing complex Starrett City affordable.

"Starrett City will be safe as long as I'm around," Towns said.

In attendance are Hillary Clinton, Representative Anthony Weiner, Assemblyman and Brooklyn Democratic chair Vito Lopez and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

A few people in the crowd chanted "Hillary, Hillary!"

"I think Ed Towns deserves a big round of applause and our gratitude," Clinton said.

(Along with other members of New York's Congressional delegation, Towns endorsed Barack Obama on June 5, shortly before Clinton dropped out of the presidential primary.  read more »

More from Hillary Clinton on her upcoming plans to campaign, at the request of the Obama campaign, for Barack Obama:

At an event at the Gabreski Air National Guard base on Long Island, I asked her when exactly she had been asked to begin making a new round of public appearances for the nominee.

"We’ve been planning this," she said.

"We have had a very constant, close communication. I will be traveling out to the West Coast, I guess, Thursday, to speak before another union that endorsed me to rev them up and get them behind Senator Obama. So it’s been constant. We’re just going to keep going until we win.”

At a press event held by Hillary Clinton about FEMA trailers out on Long Island today, I asked her about the campaigning she planned to do for Barack Obama between now and Election Day.

She said, "During the month of August, they've asked me to go to several states. But I'm going to leave it to them to announce. I don't want to in any way get ahead of them. But, you know, I'm doing whatever I'm asked and whatever I can."

Democracy for New York City's Fourth Annual "Summer Cocktail Reception" was all about Barack Obama.

Held at the downtown bar M1-5, the event's theme was "Unity '08," a reference, apparently, to bringing Democrats together (and not to the group that wanted Michael Bloomberg to run for president).

As the guests trickled in, DFNYC finance director Lewis Cohen decorated the bar with "Obama '08" signs.

"I have no doubt we will endorse," he told me.

"I think people are looking at the total candidate," said City Councilman Tony Avella, also a long-shot mayoral candidate. "He [Obama] stands for change, and we need change in the city.  read more »

A former campaign aide to Hillary Clinton, Sam Arora (once named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People on Capitol Hill"), Twitters the message above.

Michael Bloomberg wants to hear where Barack Obama stands on the issue of free trade, he said earlier today, adding that he thinks John McCain has “a better record on this issue.”

Bloomberg was speaking across the street from City Hall, where the Consumer Electronics Association launched a nationwide bus tour advocating free trade with Colombia, among other countries.

“I think that John McCain has a better record on this issue than Barack Obama,” Bloomberg said. McCain, Bloomberg said, advocates “trading with the only ally we have left in Latin America, namely Colombia.”

“I’d like to hear a lot more from him about how he thinks we could reopen NAFTA without becoming a big loser in that,” the mayor added.  read more »

A reader loyal to Hillary Clinton points out that of the roughly 300 Hillraisers who bundled money for her, it appears only a few gave money to Barack Obama or the D.N.C. in June, according to the F.E.C. filing.

Giving to Obama's Victory Fund were Mark Aronchick, Clarence Avant, John Emerson, John Graham, Chad Griffin, Marc Nathanson. Contributors to the D.N.C. included Rashid Chaudhary, Gary Gensler, Ambassador Arthur Schechter and Maureen White.

Other Clinton donors subsequently have given to Obama, and bundled a lot of money for him too. But the paucity of names so far illustrates how slow-going the unity efforts have been.

Here’s a quick interview with PR guy Matthew Hiltzik, a former spokesman for the state Democratic Party who did Jewish outreach for Hillary Clinton’s 2000 Senate race, in which I ask him what advice he'd have for Barack Obama ahead of a politically perilous swing through the Middle East.

Among Hiltzik's suggestions, doubtless inspired by certain memorable aspects of his Clinton experience: Get a good translator.

Hillary Clinton's campaign is sending out letters to donors asking permission to roll a $2,300 contribution to Clinton's 2008 general election coffers to her 2012 senate election fund instead of offering a refund.

The letter, read to me by one recipient, includes a photocopy of a handwritten note from Clinton that says, "Dear friend, your commitment has meant so much to me over the course of my presidential campaign. You were there for me when I needed you the most and I'll never forget it. I hope you'll help me continue to fight for the issues and causes we believe in by filling out the enclosed form in support of Friends of Hillary.  read more »

Here is Obama's new communications team. Unlike the campaign's appointments in areas of policy and fund-raising, there is no integration with the Clinton campaign.

Obama Campaign Unveils New Communications Staffing for the General Election New Additions in Chicago and Denver Bolster Efforts Chicago, Il – The Obama Campaign today announced its general election communications operations which includes several new additions and new roles for several long-time aides. The campaign also announced that Democratic consultant Jenny Backus will be the senior Obama communications official in Denver working on the Democratic convention working with Obama aide Liz Oxhorn. Other changes include: Robert Gibbs, one of Senator Obama’s longest-serving and closest aides, has been elevated to Senior Strategist for Communications and Message taking on a broader strategic portfolio for the Fall campaign while continuing to serve as senior communications aide travelling with Senator Obama.  read more »

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In his media column today, David Carr revisits the hubbub surrounding Barack Obama's decision to allow Access Hollywood to interview his daughters. Obama eventually told Matt Lauer that the family "won't be doing it again," but Carr suggests that the whole incident ultimately worked to the Obama campaign's advantage.

To be sure, the Obamas haven't shied away from softer media outlets, and at least one expert thinks that is a good thing for them.

In an e-mail exchange last week, I asked Jin Chon, Hillary Clinton's press secretary for specialty media, who had a fair amount of success putting Clinton in the generally friendly confines of entertainment shows, about the merits of politicians using entertainment-focused media.  read more »