Senator Barack Obama of Illinois received support from actor Robert De Niro yesterday during a campaign stop in East Rutherford, N.J. "I'm here because finally one person has inspired me. One person has given me hope," De Niro said.
(Mike Derer/associated press)
Campaign Notebook
Clinton thrives in small, intimate TV setting at Yale
Senator Barack Obama of Illinois received support from actor Robert De Niro yesterday during a campaign stop in East Rutherford, N.J. "I'm here because finally one person has inspired me. One person has given me hope," De Niro said.
(Mike Derer/associated press)
NEW HAVEN - No, she didn't cry, despite early reports to the contrary. But she did show her compassionate side, and her wonky side.
Hillary Clinton returned yesterday to the Yale Child Study Center, where she worked as a law student, and led a discussion about family issues with a dozen women gathered around a table. The small setting allowed only a few voters to see her in person, but it put her in a very flattering light for the TV cameras. She doesn't come across as well at mega rallies, especially when her voice is shot, as it is now.
Clinton held the same kind of roundtable right before the New Hampshire primary, and that is when she had the original teary-eyed moment.
This time, a colleague from her Yale days, Penn Rhodeen, gave an emotional introduction, in which he described her as he first met her, wearing purple, a sheepskin coat, and bell-bottoms: "You looked wonderful and so 1972."
He gushed about her advocacy for children - a major campaign talking point - and then choked up as he said, "Now we hope that you, our incomparable Hillary, will be president of the United States."
Clinton was definitely moved, and might have gotten a tiny bit misty, but nothing more. "I said I would not tear up, but already we're not on that path," she joked, drawing laughter.
MARCELLA BOMBARDIERI
Actor De Niro is bullish on an Obama presidency
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Robert De Niro, the dean of "Goodfellas" thuggery, made a surprise appearance at a rally for Barack Obama, using words that we did not know were in his vocabulary.
"I've never made a speech like this at a political event before. So what am I doing here?" De Niro said. "I'm here because finally one person has inspired me. One person has given me hope. One person has made me believe that we can make a change."
De Niro began his remarks with a backhanded compliment: "Barack Obama does not have the experience to be president of the United States." The crowd booed, but De Niro made his intent clear: Obama didn't have the experience to get the country into a misguided war, or operate a government run by special interests, and so on.
"You know, that's the kind of experience I could get used to," said De Niro, who stood clapping as Obama, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and Caroline Kennedy took the stage, his trademark half-smile, half-scowl etched on his face. Allowing himself a moment off-character, he gave Obama a big hug, and descended.
Obama called De Niro "one of the greatest actors of our generation."
"Some of you know I now have Secret Service protection," Obama said. "Those guys never smile; they are always cool. But I noticed when De Niro walks in, they're all like elbowing each other - 'Hey!' They were excited. Who wouldn't be excited?"
SCOTT HELMAN
Dole sticks up for McCain's Republican sensibilities
Bob Dole the war hero and former US senator and Republican presidential nominee, urged Rush Limbaugh yesterday to lay off John McCain a little.
The talk show host has been critical of McCain for weeks, telling listeners that if McCain is the nominee, it would devastate the Republican Party.
"Rush, I have not seen you in a long time but I do hear you frequently and I know that you have serious reservations about Senator McCain," Dole writes in the letter, provided by the McCain campaign.
Dole goes on to say that while he disagreed with McCain's votes against President Bush's tax cuts and McCain's campaign finance law, McCain has been a loyal Republican on a host of issues, including abortion, gun owner rights, a balanced budget, and national defense.
"I believe our major candidates are mainstream conservatives," Dole writes. "Whoever wins the Republican nomination will need your enthusiastic support. Two terms for the Clintons are enough."
FOON RHEE
Overseas Democrats cast initial Super Tuesday votes
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Democrats living overseas became the first to vote in the Super Tuesday primaries, casting ballots at the stroke of midnight in Indonesia, where Barack Obama lived as a child.
Americans in more than 30 nations will line up over the next week to vote for their nominee in the 2008 US presidential race, casting ballots at a hotel in Australia, a pub in Ireland, and a
Other Democrats will cast votes for the first time by Internet - an option Republicans remain unable to offer voters - while the remainder will stick to more traditional means of mail or fax.
About 6 million Americans living abroad are eligible to vote in US elections, but only a fraction have done so in the past. The only option until recently was for Americans living abroad to mail absentee ballot forms to their last US county of residence, then hope that shaky mail systems would deliver the ballots in time to vote.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Record numbers voted in New Hampshire primary
CONCORD, N.H. - Sixty-one percent of registered voters cast ballots in New Hampshire's presidential primary.
Secretary of State William M. Gardner released final numbers yesterday, saying record numbers voted in each primary. The 241,039 Republican ballots cast surpassed the party's record of 239,523 set in 2000. The 288,503 ballots cast in the Democratic primary broke the record set in 2004 of 221,309.
Of the independents, or undeclared voters, 62 percent cast ballots in the Democratic primary and 38 percent voted Republican.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
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