Clinton replaces Iowa campaign director
WASHINGTON -- Seven months before the Iowa caucuses, Senator Hillary Clinton of New York is shaking up her state campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination , announcing new leadership for her caucus headquarters.
Taking over as the campaign's Iowa director is Teresa Vilmain, 48, a veteran organizer and Iowa native who got her start managing caucus campaigns with Gary Hart and Michael S. Dukakis in 1987 and 1988 and was advising former governor Tom Vilsack of Iowa before he ended his presidential bid in February. Vilsack endorsed Clinton. Vilmain, who lives in Wisconsin, has been informally advising her Iowa campaign for weeks.
Vilmain replaces JoDee Winterhof, 41, an Iowa native who has been chief of staff to Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa, and worked on Al Gore's 2000 caucus campaign. She will stay on the Iowa team as a senior strategist and chief surrogate for Clinton around the state.
The move comes two weeks after the leak of a memo from Clinton's national headquarters raising the possibility of skipping Iowa, where polls show her trailing former senator John Edwards of North Carolina. Clinton's campaign has since maintained that it is definitely competing in the state, citing her frequent visits there in recent weeks.
Glover, whose movie credits include "The Royal Tenenbaums" and the "Lethal Weapon" series, joined Edwards as he spoke to a crowd of more than 200 people about increasing employment and improving education.
Glover said Edwards understands the needs of the working poor and that the campaign is telling their story. "This is a campaign about real democracy," Glover said. (AP)
Richardson and Dodd would have an advantage in the Sept. 9 debate in Miami since they are the only two candidates to speak fluent Spanish. But simultaneous translation would be provided for the English-only speakers.
The debate sponsors, Univision and the University of Miami, have invited 2008 candidates from both parties to participate in separate events.
Univision is the country's highest-rated Spanish-language television network.
"I challenge my fellow Democratic candidates to participate in this debate and not to find reasons to avoid it," said Richardson, the New Mexico governor who grew up in Mexico City. "Diversity is a fundamental Democratic issue."
Dodd, a senator from Connecticut, said the 2008 election is a historic opportunity to address Latino concerns.
"The next president needs to be someone who can speak to this important segment of our population, and those within our same hemisphere, on issues from immigration to education to foreign affairs," said Dodd who lived in the Dominican Republic while serving in the Peace Corps. (AP)
Huckabee, while answering a question about his confidence in the Iraqi government, was the first candidate to mention the Republican icon during the Tuesday night debate in Manchester, N.H.
"Today's the birthday of Ronald Reagan," Huckabee said. In fact, Reagan was born Feb. 6, 1911; Tuesday was the third anniversary of his death.
"Actually it was the date of his death and not his birth, and just an absolute error on my part," Huckabee acknowledged in a conference call with reporters yesterday.
The former Arkansas governor said he realized the error immediately after the debate, but he didn't expect the mistake to harm his presidential campaign.
"I don't think people are going to expect a person running or holding the office of president to be 100 percent perfect and people know you're going to make mistakes," Huckabee said. (AP)
