Clinton gets 2d endorsement from an ex-rival
Hillary Clinton netted her second endorsement from a former 2008 rival yesterday, this time Senator Evan Bayh of Indiana. Bayh has won election to both the Senate and the governor's office in a heavily red state, so his endorsement helps the Clinton campaign make the case that she is electable despite distaste for her among some moderate and conservative-leaning voters.
Bayh, who put aside his own presidential ambitions last December, is also seen as a potential vice presidential nominee. He will be a national cochairman of the Clinton campaign.
"Hillary Clinton is a seasoned, experienced leader who will be ready to lead this country on Day One," Bayh said in a statement.
The first former 2008 Democratic contender to get behind Clinton, and another vice presidential possibility, is Iowa's former governor Tom Vilsack, who endorsed her in March. Clinton's campaign also announced yesterday that she has been endorsed by the 100,000-strong International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, her fifth major union endorsement of the campaign so far.
MARCELLA BOMBARDIERI
Obama turns up heat
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama continued to turn up the pressure in Iowa yesterday, announcing the endorsement of Gordon R. Fischer, a lawyer in Des Moines and a well-connected former chairman of the state Democratic Party. Fischer's endorsement comes on the heels of Obama's two new TV ads in Iowa.
Fischer told reporters in a conference call that he believed Obama was the most electable, the candidate best-equipped to change the country, and the one with the most inspired policies. "I am absolutely convinced that
Senator Obama is the true change agent who can get elected and has the right policies at this time to move our country forward," Fischer said.
Obama, meanwhile, will begin running his 60-second ad "Believe" in New Hampshire today, the first time he will be on air in the Granite State.
SCOTT HELMAN
Pace for donors slows
Obama, who has been leading his rivals in getting grass-roots financial support, is attracting new donors at a slower pace.
More than 334,000 individual donors have contributed to the Illinois senator's campaign this year, according to a fund-raising e-mail sent to supporters yesterday. He brought in about 76,000 new individual donors since July, compared with an estimated 154,000 in the second quarter and about 104,000 in the first quarter.
BLOOMBERG
Bush on Clinton's odds
WASHINGTON - President Bush believes that Democrat Hillary Clinton will win her party's presidential nomination, but that the Republican nominee will beat her in the November 2008 election, according to a new book.
Bush shared his opinions about the campaign in an interview for "The Evangelical President," a book by a reporter for The Examiner newspaper of Washington, Bill Sammon.
Bush, who replaced Clinton's husband, Bill, in the White House in 2001, said he cited Hillary Clinton because "she's got a national presence, and this is becoming a national primary."
Bush has generally kept out of the race to succeed him in the White House, saying he did not want to become "pundit-in-chief."
REUTERS
