ANDERSON, S.C. - Hillary Clinton's campaign swapped a controversial negative radio ad yesterday for an upbeat, positive one in South Carolina.
The negative ad quoted Obama as saying, "The Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years."
And then the announcer responded: "Really? Aren't those the ideas that got us into the economic mess we're in today? Ideas like special tax breaks for Wall Street. Running up a $9 trillion debt. Refusing to raise the minimum wage or deal with the housing crisis. Are those the ideas Barack Obama's talking about?"
The Obama campaign cried foul and said the Illinois senator's words were taken totally out of context. It also put out a negative radio ad of its own, saying Clinton had made false attacks and would "say anything" to get elected.
Clinton's ad went off the air yesterday, just as her campaign debuted one with former President Bill Clinton, who talks about the troubled economy.
"I also know that African-Americans have been hit the hardest these last seven years. Who can fix healthcare, who can fix our economy, who can create new jobs, who can reduce the price of gas at the pump? Hillary can."
The Obama campaign then pulled its negative ad.
MARCELLA BOMBARDIERI
Michelle Obama, the Illinois senator's spouse, sent out an e-mail appeal yesterday for online donations of $50 each.
"We knew getting into this race that Barack would be competing with Senator Clinton and President Clinton at the same time," she says. "We expected that Bill Clinton would tout his record from the nineties and talk about Hillary's role in his past success.
"What we didn't expect, at least not from our fellow Democrats, are the win-at-all-costs tactics we've seen recently," Michelle Obama says. "We didn't expect misleading accusations that willfully distort Barack's record. Barack Obama isn't relying on a former president of the United States to campaign for him. He's relying on us - you, me, and hundreds of thousands of people like us who are giving whatever they can afford to support this movement."
FOON RHEE
In selecting Clinton, the newspaper's editorial board said her experience gave her an advantage over her chief rival in the Democratic race, Illinois Senator Barack Obama, though on the major issues they were not that different.
In backing McCain, the Times editorial board said it had strong disagreements with all the Republican candidates, but among them the Arizona senator was an easy choice. McCain has shown he has the character to stand on principle, he was an early advocate for battling global warming, and he was one of the first prominent Republicans to point out how badly the Iraq war was being managed, the Times said.
The New York Times Co. owns the Boston Globe.
REUTERS
Yesterday another action-movie actor, Sylvester Stallone, announced he was there for John McCain, one of Huckabee's Republican rivals.
On an appearance on "Fox & Friends," McCain was surprised by the hosts with the endorsement by the star of all the "Rocky" and "Rambo" movies.
"I like McCain a lot, a lot," Stallone said. "Things may change along the way, but there's something about matching the character with the script . . . the reality is pretty brutal and pretty hard-edged, a rough action film, and you need somebody who's been in that to deal with it."
McCain responded by raising his arms in that famous Rocky pose: "Ta-da! I'm going to Philadelphia to run up the steps."
FOON RHEE
He will join Team Hoyt, a local charity that pushes for integrating the physically challenged into everyday life. Dick Hoyt and son Rick have completed 25 Boston Marathons, with Dick pushing Rick in his wheelchair, the Boston Athletic Association said.
Huckabee has been training on the campaign trail and famously lost more than 100 pounds when he started running after being diagnosed with adult-onset diabetes. He has run four marathons with a personal best time of 4 hours, 26 minutes.
FOON RHEE
