Trailhead: A campaign blog.

Judicious Endorsement

At times during Sen. Patrick Leahy's endorsement of Barack Obama today, he sounded like he was endorsing Hillary Clinton. Leahy focused much of his praise on Obama's ability to restore America's reputation around the world, which is a usual talking point for Obama endorsers. But one of Leahy's lines evoked Clinton's brand of change as much as Obama's. From the press release:

Barack Obama represents the America we once were and want to be again. ... Barack Obama will be a President who once again believes, "Yes, we can."  

Note Leahy's word choice here. We're not creating a new America, we're returning to the America we used to be, presumably before President Bush took office. Obama won't be a new kind of president, he'll be the kind of president we used to have, like, say, back in the Clinton years. That sounds pretty similar to the kind of change Hillary Clinton markets.

As much as Obama needs support from the Senate establishment, he also runs the risk of dooming his change message. The always snappy and candid Leahy is a great pick-up for Obama, but his mind-set seems to be stuck in the '90s, which would be fine if Obama weren't running against the ‘90s' first lady. 

But there's a trade-off. Leahy also has the political savvy to offer one-liners that eloquently encompass entire candidacies. From the conference call: 

We need a president who can reintroduce America to the world and also reintroduce America to ourselves.

A "reintroduction to ourselves" is about as Obama-esque as it gets.

Wrapped in Newsprint

New Hampshire newspapers are not being kind to their friendly neighbor to the south. First, the liberal editorial board of the Concord Monitor put out a scathing un-endorsement titled “Romney should not be the next president.” Then, this morning, the conservative (and pro-McCain) New Hampshire Union Leader ran its own editorial with this money line: “But (Romney) lacks something John McCain has in spades: conviction.”

All of this is somewhat predictable from two of the three top New Hampshire papers. Romney wasn’t expecting any gifts from the Monitor, and the Union Leader has outspokenly supported McCain.

Most telling, then, is the partisanship Romney showed in his responses to the two papers. Today, Romney sent a release to journalists blasting the Monitor’s liberal editorial page. The release then lists all of the prominent conservatives backing Romney, which is tantamount to Mitt showing off his chest of endorsements to assert his conservative bona fides. Who needs liberals when you’ve got Tom Tancredo?

When I asked the campaign to respond to the Union Leader editorial, I received another GOP-centric response, one laced with a mix of caution and aggression. The following bit was especially illuminating:

We, of course, respect the Union-Leader's right to voice their opinion, but the differences between Governor Romney and Senator McCain are clear. We disagree with Senator McCain's joining Democrats to vote against Republican plans for tax relief, his pro-amnesty immigration proposal with Senator Kennedy and his McCain-Feingold legislation which hurt conservative advocacy efforts.

Interestingly, every negative point the statement raises about McCain’s record has to do with his bipartisan efforts in the Senate. Mixed with Romney’s harsh release against the liberal Monitor editorial board, it seems Romney thinks he has to be as pure of a conservative as possible to win in New Hampshire. Considering New Hampshire lets independents vote in its primaries (many of whom favor McCain), that’s a risky strategy.

Read the campaign's full response here.

Streisand Supports Obama, Edwards, Dodd

Barbra Streisand threw her vocal chords behind Hillary Clinton today, a not-so-surprising endorsement for the long-time Democratic activist. Streisand sang at Bill Clinton's inaugural gala and dedicated a song to 42 and Hill. Most interesting, though, is that Streisand donated $2,300 to not only Clinton, but also Barack Obama and John Edwards. (She also tossed a grand into Chris Dodd's coffer.)

Can you imagine if Oprah had donated to Hillary's campaign? Chuck Norris to Mitt Romney's? That Desperate Housewives guy to Bill Richardson's?

Meanwhile, does this mean Hillary Clinton's theme song might change from Celine Dion's "You and I" to Babs' "The Way We Were"? Probably not. Lyrics like "static pictures of the smiles we left behind; smiles we gave to one another of the way we were" would make her sound like she's running to reinstate the Clinton era--and the campaign is careful to "Stay Away" from that message. Zing!

It's Pat!

Rudy Giuliani made Tommy Thompson his national co-chair. He did the same for Steve Forbes. Hell, Jeb Bush Jr. is the chairman of Florida Young Professionals for Rudy. But Pat Robertson? He's title-less.

There's no doubt that today's official endorsement from televangelist Robertson is a major coup for the pro-choice Giuliani. But the campaign isn't putting Robertson front and center in Giuliani's cabal of endorsers. Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for Rudy, told me that Robertson doesn't have an official title and didn't have any plans to give him one. Today, she said, was just the first step-an opportunity to be in public talking about his support for Giuliani.

One would assume more steps will follow, but she offered no specifics. I asked her if Robertson planned to campaign on Rudy's behalf. She didn't have an answer. I asked her if he could be expected to be a Giuliani proxy on cable news. Unclear.  

That conversation, combined with today's hasty press conference-where Giuliani and Robertson seemed to have little in common besides a history of prostate cancer-makes me wonder how much Giuliani wants to associate with Robertson.

Remember, this is the same Robertson that said the U.S. should whack Hugo Chavez, that abortions caused 9/11, and that in the next month and a half there will be a "mass killing" in the U.S. Doesn't sound like somebody a frontrunner wants mouthing off on his behalf.  

Tomorrow is the first day in Giuliani's post-Robertson candidacy. Will we ever hear from Robertson again? Or will Rudy hope that today's deluge of news coverage is enough to convince the religious right that he's their guy?

Giuliani flies to Iowa tomorrow. Robertson won't be joining him.

Sweaty Mitt

Mitt Romney's day wasn't supposed to go like this. Romney was supposed to be campaigning happily in South Carolina—a state where he's gained in the polls thanks to beefy advertising time and a heavy event schedule. But as he was giving his speech on education this morning, word trickled down that two of his rivals nabbed high-profile endorsements from the religious right.

Today's endorsement-palooza—Pat Robertson backed Giuliani and Sam Brownback supported John McCain—hurts Romney in Iowa the most. Romney has led the polls in the state since June and ran away with the Ames Straw Poll in August. (Giuliani and McCain did not compete.) But both of today's endorsers have a broad base of support in Iowa, something McCain and Giuliani don't have.

Robertson ran for president in 1988 and finished a surprising second place in the Hawkeye State. Second wouldn't be too bad for Giuliani, who trails Mike Huckabee in the polls. Giuliani's campaign has recently shifted strategy, basically acknowledging that they need to do well in Iowa or New Hampshire to build up momentum going into Tsnuami Tuesday on Feb. 5. Now, with Robertson by his side, Giuliani is armed with a Republican foil who can help anchor him to the religious right. Romney is already fighting with Huckabee for the religious right's vote in Iowa, so he'd prefer if Giuliani stayed out of it. 

McCain, meanwhile, has picked up more of a wildcard in Brownback. The two senators announced the endorsement in Iowa, where Brownback's support was strongest. (He finished third in the straw poll.) McCain is currently toiling in fifth place there and, in some polls, finds Ron Paul nipping at his heels. If McCain can use Brownback to reach out to Christian conservatives and finish in third (behind Romney and Huckabee) in Iowa, then he can use that momentum to roll through New Hampshire. But all is not rosy. The nightmare scenario for McCain—and a real possibility—is if Pat Robertson soaks up all the votes Brownback might have given him.

Most importantly, this whole thing yanks Romney's recent religious right endorsement, that of Moral Majority co-founder Paul Weyrich, out of the spotlight. In the religious hierarchy of the week's endorsements, Robertson trumps Weyrich and Weyrich trumps Brownback.

All of a sudden, Romney's pre-emptive anti-Rudy direct mail campaign in Iowa this week is starting to seem prescient.

Pat Robertson and Rudy Giuliani: Not Exactly BFFs

From inside the bowels of the National Press Club, Christopher Beam sent this over the wires:

Pat Robertson just announced his endorsement of Rudy Giuliani for president of the United States. Giuliani, however, seemed to have trouble fully endorsing Pat Robertson. Here's how he introduced the evangelical leader:

Pat Robertson is a very well-known leader, a person of well-deserved reputation. He has run for president of the United States. He understands what America is all about. And he has articulated the overriding issues of our time.

No friendship? No admiration? And keep in mind that his "well-deserved reputation" could mean anything …